Over 200 Ukrainian POWs reported to have died in Russian captivity since start of war

At least 206 Ukrainian prisoners of war have died in Russian captivity since the start of the full-scale invasion, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Tuesday.

Human rights activists, UN representatives, the Ukrainian authorities and a Ukrainian forensic expert who conducted autopsies on the bodies of dozens of Ukrainian soldiers all said the cause of death of many prisoners was their ill-treatment while in custody, according to the AP report.

Ukrainian officials said that Russia’s frequent transfer of mutilated or decomposed bodies suggested that Moscow was trying to hide signs of torture, starvation and poor medical care in prisons and detention centres in Russia and occupied parts of Ukraine.

AP said Ukraine planned to bring war crimes charges against Russia at the International Criminal Court because of the ill-treatment of its soldiers, where both the testimony of soldiers released from captivity and autopsy results would serve as evidence.

Russia does not disclose the number of Ukrainian soldiers held in captivity, but based on an estimate cited by the BBC in December, at least 8,000 Ukrainians — including both soldiers and civilians — are believed to be held in Russian prisons.

Moscow and Kyiv concluded the largest prisoner exchange of the war so far last weekend, exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war each. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the swap as “perhaps the only real result” of the direct negotiations in Istanbul earlier in May.