O tratamento russo aos prisioneiros ucranianos (de guerra ou civis) e o Direito Internacional
Sei que Lula nunca vai ler relatos desse tipo, mas talvez algum assessor presidencial ou algum diplomata graúdo possa ler e transmitir a Lula o quanto ele está ERRADO em defender ou se colocar ao lado de Putin, objetivamente apoiando o lado da Rússia na sua mais do que cruel guerra de agressão contra a Ucrânia.
Paulo Roberto de Almeida
Brasília, 9/11/2026
RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY: SIXTEEN VOICES FROM HELLUkrainian prisoners describe electric torture, sexual violence, starvation, humiliation, mock executions, and the murder of fellow captives. Sixteen accounts of what they endured.
WARNING: 18+ — Graphic descriptions of torture and sexual violence. RUSSIAN CAPTIVITY: SIXTEEN VOICES FROM HELL
These sixteen accounts are based on published testimonies of Ukrainian prisoners of war, civilian detainees, survivors, and relatives. They have been translated, condensed, and retold in the first person. They are not verbatim transcripts. Each story remains separate. 1. R. — Defender of Mariupol. Almost three years in captivity. On the first night, they beat me so badly that I lost consciousness four times. They suspended me by the neck from a tree. They only lowered me when I passed out. Then they attached wires, placed my feet in a basin of water, and sent electricity through my body. I thought I would never wake up again. Every time I regained consciousness, it started all over. I could barely see. Everything was blurred. I remember the wires, the water, and the men who continued torturing me. Later, they held us in a cell measuring approximately six square meters. More than sixty people were crammed inside. We literally lay on top of one another. For an entire day, we received half a ladle of rice and a piece of bread. Eventually, I was transferred to Olenivka. One night, we heard an explosion. At first, we thought Ukrainian forces had approached. We were happy for a moment. In the morning, we learned that our comrades from Azov had been killed. I spent almost three years in captivity. 2. V. — Defender of Mariupol. Two years and eight months in captivity. Before the war, I was healthy. In captivity, they beat me, tortured me with electric shocks, and suspended me by my genitals to force answers out of me. They transferred me from one prison to another. Every new prison could mean that everything would begin again. In the mornings, they dragged us out of our cells and ordered us to face the wall. They beat us for standing incorrectly, moving, or failing to lower our heads far enough. They did not need a reason. During captivity, I lost forty kilograms. When I returned home in December 2024, my body was severely weakened. I am still receiving medical treatment. 3. A. — Paratrooper of the 79th Brigade. A message burned into his stomach. I was seriously wounded in February 2024. After a grenade explosion, I thought I had lost my legs. They were still there, but I could not feel them. I was losing consciousness from blood loss when Russian soldiers captured me. They brought me to a basement, blindfolded me, tied my hands, and started beating me. Blows to the head were followed by interrogations. They applied electricity directly to my open wounds. I lost consciousness. They revived me and continued. Later, they placed me on an operating table. I was restrained and could not see what they were doing. For several days after the operation, I could not even lift myself. A nurse told me that when I returned home, I could cover the damage with a tattoo. I did not understand what she meant. When I finally managed to raise my head and look at my stomach, I saw the words "Glory to Russia" burned into my skin. The surgeon who operated on me had done it. When I began walking again, men came to interrogate me. One sat behind a laptop while another beat me and tortured me with electricity. They asked where I was wounded. I showed them my leg. They ripped off the bandage and applied electricity directly to the injury. 4. V. Z. — Defender of Snake Island. I was captured on the first day of the full-scale invasion. During captivity, I passed through seven detention facilities. I lost sixty kilograms, my health, and the ability to live as I had before. They drove needles beneath our fingernails, set dogs on us, and forced prisoners to fight one another. During prison intake, guards formed a corridor with batons, electric shock devices, brass knuckles, and bottles. We had to run between them while they beat us from every direction. Then they stripped us and continued torturing us with electricity. They smashed bottles against my head. I suffered a serious traumatic brain injury. They damaged three vertebrae with a hammer. Those injuries still cause me pain. I saw the devastating consequences of sexual violence. One of our prisoners had been subjected to it for months. Later, even an ordinary touch from a guard during an inspection could send him into terror. They gave us disgusting yellow water. After my release, I had to have my gallbladder removed. They issued shoes several sizes too small. My toes began to rot, and after my release, doctors struggled to save them. In Russia, they explained that their purpose was to inflict maximum physical and psychological damage, so we would never forget where we were. 5. I. — Young defender of Mariupol. Taganrog. From the first day in Taganrog, they forced us to undress. Even receiving prison clothing became an opportunity for humiliation. One day, a guard covered part of a document I was supposed to sign. Then he accused me of signing it incorrectly. They made me stand naked against a wall and assaulted me with a heavy object in the anal area. The consequences of that injury lasted for months. During another interrogation, they stripped me, threw me onto the floor, and restrained my legs. They attached electrical clamps to my genitals and anus and sent current through them. At the same time, they demanded to know what I had done in Mariupol and who had given me orders. That interrogation lasted approximately forty minutes. I survived. But the consequences of what they did to me remained. 6. O. — Resident of Kherson. Two months of torture. I helped people in occupied Kherson. Together with friends, we organized food for elderly residents, displayed Ukrainian flags, and showed that the city remained Ukrainian. Then armed men came for me. They accused me of separatism and terrorism. I spent two months in detention. The worst torture was electricity. They attached wires to my ears, toes, and genitals. The pain was so terrible that I wanted them simply to shoot me. That is not an exaggeration. We supported one another. We hoped it would eventually end. When they released me, sunlight felt unfamiliar after the darkness of the cell. Even the air felt different. I returned home, but freedom did not mean that what happened had been left behind. 7. V. — Miner from Donetsk. The secret prison known as Izolyatsia. In November 2016, armed men wearing masks seized me. They did not properly explain the accusations. They beat me, split my lip with brass knuckles, handcuffed me, and sent me to Izolyatsia. There, I learned what electric torture meant. One of the most terrifying sounds was the footsteps of guards coming for another prisoner. They tied you up, took you to the basement, and connected the wires. They called these torture sessions "drinking coffee." They used old field telephones and wires. They sent electricity through different parts of the body, including the genitals. Again and again. I witnessed sexual violence against other detainees. Women were forced into sexual acts. Hunger and complete powerlessness made them even more vulnerable. After my release, I continued receiving treatment. The electric torture had seriously damaged my health. Those consequences did not disappear when the prison door opened. 8. E. — A woman who survived Taganrog. I was detained while trying to escape occupied Ukrainian territory. During interrogation, they told me they would send me somewhere I would regret ever being born. That place was Taganrog. They beat me with batons, tortured me with electricity, threatened rape, and set dogs on me. One of the torture methods involved a special chair. They made me sit in it, attached electrical clamps between my toes, and switched on the current. They did this to me twice. I heard guards discussing how long electric torture should last. They were concerned that prisoners might die during the procedure because a death would mean additional paperwork. In that prison, human life depended on people for whom our suffering had become an ordinary working day. 9. V. A. — Olenivka and Taganrog. A confession to a murder he never committed. In July 2022, I was transferred with other defenders of Mariupol to a separate barracks in Olenivka. An explosion occurred during the night. I woke to screams. There were wounded men everywhere. I checked myself and began helping carry my comrades outside. The guards stood behind the fence. Some were laughing. We were trying to save people while they watched. Later, they transferred me to another prison. Upon arrival, they threw us to the ground with our hands tied and eyes covered. They beat us from every direction. It lasted approximately two hours. Then the interrogations began. They demanded that I confess to war crimes. I had not committed the acts they accused me of. They beat my legs until I could no longer stand. Then they ordered me to get up. When I could not, they beat me again. Between hunger and constant beatings, I could barely remain upright. This continued for a long time. I heard other prisoners screaming. Every day, I waited for them to come for me again. Eventually, I understood that they would not stop until they received a confession. So I invented the murder of a civilian I had never killed. I constructed the story carefully so that no other Ukrainian soldiers would be implicated. I told them what they wanted to hear. Then they untied me and handed me a pen. I signed the confession. Later, I was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison. 10. Kraft — Defender of Mariupol. Olenivka. I woke up after the second explosion. I had a wound in my abdomen, internal bleeding, and my body was burning. I checked my arms and legs, realized I could move, and tried to escape. The barracks were already on fire. I saw the burned bodies of my comrades on their beds. I recognized two of them. They were dead. What I remember most is the smell. Thick smoke, burning bodies, strange toxic air. Fiberglass insulation was falling from the ceiling onto my skin. At one point, the sounds seemed to disappear, and everything around me appeared to move in slow motion. I could see what was happening, but it felt as though I were separated from my own body. Eventually, they carried me outside and laid me on the asphalt. I will never forget that night. 11. A. — Former prisoner of war from Azovstal. During nine months of captivity, I passed through several Russian prisons. They beat me constantly, including blows to the head. After my release, I suffered spinal problems, dizziness, ringing in my ears, and pain. During interrogations, they sometimes held a knife against my ear or threatened to cut off a finger. When one man grew tired of beating me, another replaced him. If I fell, they ordered me to stand. They forced me to undress. They subjected me to sexualized torture and threatened castration and rape. Once, they blindfolded me and staged a mock execution. Shots rang out nearby. Three prisoners died during my captivity. One died in our shared cell. After my release, I continued suffering the consequences of the beatings. It was difficult to imagine ever being able to run normally or perform physical exercise again. 12. I. D. — Ukrainian Marine. The journey to a Russian prison. On the evening of April 27, they transported us to Russia. Before putting us into the vehicles, they tightened plastic restraints around our wrists and wrapped tape around our heads. They told us we were being taken for a prisoner exchange. Then we heard the screams of our comrades being beaten, and we understood that no exchange was taking place. They brought us to an airfield. We heard dogs barking and electric shock devices crackling. They forced us to bend forward, struck our backs, and used electric shock devices. They deliberately provoked the dogs into biting prisoners. All of this happened before we even reached the detention facility. 13. Y. — Civilian prisoner from the Kherson region. I was sixty years old. I lived at home with my family, cared for my brother with a disability, and had no intention of leaving. On October 13, 2022, armed men came to my house. They began torturing me with an electric shock device right there. They shocked my neck, the area between my shoulder blades, and my arms. My brother witnessed everything. I did not lose consciousness, so they intensified the torture. It continued for approximately an hour. Then they took me away with my head covered. In a basement in Bilozerka, they tortured me with electricity again, demanding that I confess to something I had not done. When they brought me into a cell and I began changing clothes, the other prisoners saw my back. The skin along my spine was severely burned. I was not a soldier. They presented no genuine evidence of a crime. They simply took me from my own home. 14. A. — Wounded Ukrainian soldier. Seventy-four people in one cell. I was captured in May 2022 near Horlivka, when our unit was surrounded and ran out of ammunition. At first, they held me in a dark basement with almost no food or water. Several Russian soldiers beat me. They used sticks and electricity generated by a field telephone. Later, they transferred me to a detention center in Donetsk. At times, seventy-four people were held in a cell designed for four sleeping places. Among us were seriously wounded men, including prisoners who had recently undergone amputations. The room smelled of decaying flesh. There was no proper sanitation. Sometimes prisoners were forbidden to use the toilet for days. We had to improvise with whatever was available. We lived pressed against one another, healthy men beside the severely wounded, without even the most basic conditions for human existence. 15. O. — Military medic. Women's cell in Olenivka. After leaving Azovstal, I spent four months in Olenivka. They kept the women separately from the men. Our cell measured approximately three by three meters. A toilet occupied one-third of the space. At different times, between six and eleven women were held there. We slept on bunks, on the floor, and on a small table. At night, mice ran above our heads. The sewage system constantly became blocked, and waste flowed into the corridor. They fed us just enough to keep us alive, but no more. In the morning, a little watery porridge. At midday, soup and porridge. In the evening, more porridge with fish. We lived in overcrowding, filth, and constant fear. Then we heard the explosion in the barracks where our comrades were being held. 16. V. — Wife of a Ukrainian soldier. Seven men killed in a basement. My husband was captured on the Donetsk front. First, one group of Russian soldiers seized him. Then they handed him over to another group. They took him to a basement where other Ukrainian defenders were already being held. The prisoners were tortured there. My husband described seven Ukrainian servicemen who were tortured before his eyes. They were killed. The Russians also cut my husband's throat and threw him into a pit with the bodies. They believed everyone was dead. They dumped rubbish over them. Among the rubbish was a broken bottle. My husband's hands were tied, but he managed to reach a piece of glass and cut through the rope. When the Russians left, he climbed out of the pit, wrapped cloth around his throat, and began making his way toward Ukrainian positions. He crawled for almost five days. When he reached the hospital, he had lost a great deal of blood, and his wounds were infected. Because of the injury to his throat, he could not speak. He communicated what had happened in writing. He survived. The other seven men did not. --- Sixteen accounts. Sixteen lives marked by captivity. These stories describe only a fraction of the suffering reported by Ukrainians who have survived Russian detention. Many survivors still live with permanent injuries, chronic pain, psychological trauma, and memories of people who never returned. Some former prisoners are still undergoing treatment. Others remain in captivity. Families continue waiting for news of missing husbands, wives, sons, daughters, and friends. Their experiences must not disappear into silence. https://mykhailorohoza. |
