Russia deports children, rapes and tortures Ukrainians – UN report

UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has found further evidence of war crimes committed by invading Russian forces in Ukraine, the commission said in a report to the UN General Assembly published on Oct. 20.

Read also: Russian occupiers tortured dozens of Ukrainian women in Kherson prison

The commission confirmed that due to a Russian attack on a multi-story residential building in Uman in April 2023, 24 civilians, predominately women and children, were killed.

The investigation also established that Russian authorities systematically and broadly applied torture in places of detention. New evidence collected by the commission members in Kherson and Zaporizhzhya oblasts depicts “the same pattern” of torture in occupied Ukrainian territories. The instances the commission studied showed that Moscow’s forces predominantly tortured men suspected of supporting Ukraine's defenders.

After speaking with witnesses and those who survived Russian captivity, the commission reported “a profound disregard towards human dignity” displayed by Russian authorities. Witnesses reported instances where torture was so brutal that the individual died. In the prison located in a school in the village of Bilyaivka, Kherson region, a captive showed signs of respiratory failure immediately after being tortured. However, the occupiers refused to provide him with medical aid, and he died within an hour.

Read also: Russia takes Ukrainian children on ‘educational tours’ – report

The commission confirmed that the Russian occupiers frequently committed rape and other forms of sexual violence along with other acts of violence such as brutal beatings, strangulation, discharging firearms next to the victims’ heads, and purposeful murder. The report details an attack by a Russian soldier on a 75-year-old woman. He beat her, began to strangle her, ordered her to undress, and when she refused, stripped her, slashed her abdomen, and raped her several times. The woman’s ribs were broken, and the aggressor knocked out several of her teeth.

Read also: UN says 90% of Ukrainian prisoners of war have been tortured by Russians

The commission also documented the deportation of 31 children from Ukraine to Russia in May 2022, concluding that it's a war crime of unlawful deportation. The commission is concerned about measures apparently aimed at arranging for some children to stay in Russia for good.

The commission also recorded "three cases where the investigations showed that Ukrainian authorities committed violations of human rights against persons whom they have accused of collaboration with the Russian authorities."

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine