The head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, Danielle Belle, said that more than 95% of Ukrainian servicemen were tortured by Russians while in captivity in Russia.
She said this in an interview for the Nieuwsuur programme of the Dutch TV channel NOS, Ukrinform reports.
"They are tortured during the first interrogation. They are beaten with metal sticks and sticks, severely electrocuted, and stripped naked. It's horrible. It's the worst thing I've seen in my 20-year career visiting prisoners on behalf of the UN. Torture is widespread and structural. 95% of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been tortured, and this is a war crime," she said.
Belle also stressed that information about Ukrainian prisoners of war, when they do not have access to them, is collected during conversations after they return home.
The UN mission representative notes that the treatment of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine is different from what Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia face.
"The Ukrainian authorities give us unrestricted access to camps and temporary prisons with prisoners of war. Although there have been some problems since the beginning of the invasion, over the past 1.5 years we have seen conditions of detention that meet the humanitarian law of war," Belle said.