On September 8, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, sent a bill proposal to the Russian Parliament suggesting that the State withdraw from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture, which Moscow ratified in 1996.
A formality, as there are numerous testimonies from prisoners in Russian prisons - not only Ukrainians - that have highlighted the multiple abuses, excesses, and even murders that occur recurrently in those strongholds.
According to an investigation carried out by the AP agency last May, over 200 Ukrainian prisoners have died while in Russian captivity since Moscow launched its major offensive in 2022.
A United Nations report from last year indicated that 95% of Ukrainians released by Russia so far have suffered "systematic" torture. From beatings, electric shocks, sexual violence, suffocation, to simulated executions.
The report details examples of soldiers left with "broken bones, broken teeth, and gangrene" in their limbs due to beatings.
Several soldiers help a Ukrainian soldier returning from Russian captivity during a prisoner exchange last October.Efrem LukatskyAP Photo
The same investigation accused Ukrainian troops of similar practices when capturing enemy soldiers but indicated that these abuses ceased when the Russians took over the prison system.
The former mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolayenko, spent almost three and a half years in Russian prisons after refusing to leave his city when it was captured in 2022 by enemy soldiers. Mykolayenko was arrested on April 18 of that year after refusing to collaborate with the parallel administration established by Moscow and was released in a prisoner exchange on August 24.
Question. Were you surprised by how quickly the Russians captured Kherson? In some interviews you have given, you have hinted that there should be an investigation into whether there was betrayal in the Ukrainian ranks that facilitated the Russian advance.
Answer. I did not think Russia would attack the South, I thought the offensive would be in the East. But yes, in the case of Kherson, there was betrayal. In just two hours, they were already in Kherson.
Q. Why did you stay in the city knowing that you were one of the most well-known local figures and would be a target for the occupying forces? Furthermore, you participated in the protests organized against the Russian presence.
A. Maybe it was a mistake, but at that moment I thought: why should I flee from my city? In the early days, I joined the Territorial Defense. When the Russians entered Kherson on March 1, we became partisans. Some people suggested blowing up the train tracks connecting to Crimea. I proposed cutting off the electricity, but our leaders did not approve the plan. We provided information about the movement of Russian troops, where they had placed their weapons, and so on. I don't consider it heroic. Many people did the same. The protests were organized by the population. I had nothing to do with them. They were an example of the determination of the people of Kherson to express their discontent with the Russian occupation.
A. Someone who was collaborating with the Russians called me and said they had information about Russian soldiers but couldn't give it to me over the phone. We arranged to meet, and when I arrived at his house, Russian soldiers were waiting for me there.
Q. According to your statements, during your time in prison, beatings were a common occurrence to the point where your ribs were broken three times, right?
A. Yes. The first time they broke my ribs was when I was detained in Kherson (in the cells of the regional police department). The guards beat me savagely after finding a photograph of Mykolayenko in Kyiv during the so-called Maidan uprising of 2013/2014, which led to the ousting of the pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. The second time was in Borisoglebsk prison, in Voronezh [a Russian city in the southwest of the country], and the third time was in the Vladimir region prison [also in Russia].
Q. You were imprisoned in at least four locations over those years. Which prison had the most violent guards?
A. Voronezh. When I arrived there, I was searched, and the person doing it pricked himself with a small needle he had in his pocket. He used it to mark the pages of a Bible that I always carry with me. He got so angry that he broke my nose. Then, he continued hitting me trying to break my leg and arm with punches. He didn't succeed, but it was very painful. After that, there was something called a meeting. All Ukrainian prisoners were sent to a room where we had to change clothes and put on prisoner uniforms. Between that room and the official entrance of the prison, there was another space without surveillance cameras. The Russian guards had gathered there with batons, creating a sort of 60-meter corridor. As soon as we entered that area, they started beating us. I was lucky because each prisoner was accompanied by a prison officer who told them that I had already been beaten quite a bit (the needle incident). They only beat me halfway down the corridor.
But I have to tell you that when I arrived in Voronezh, a doctor recognized me. I had spent about 16 days imprisoned in Kherson. He made me undress, and when he saw my body, it was marked by all the beatings I had received in Kherson. He asked me, 'What happened to you?' I replied, 'I fell to the ground. I spent 16 days falling to the ground. What else could I say? They started beating me from the first day [of detention].
But in Voronezh, they beat me every day, three times a day. During the morning check, the evening check, and when we went out for a walk in the afternoon. The beatings started when they entered the cells in the mornings. Imagine. There were several floors, and they were getting closer, and you could hear the screams of pain. It was the hardest part. Knowing that it would be your turn, and you just wondered: will they beat me a lot, or will it just be a moment? In the end, you wanted them to beat you already to overcome that psychological stress.
It was terrible. I lost 25 kilos. The prison [Borisoglebsk] was located in the city center. Next to a park. Every day it was full of families, mothers with their children. And it was impossible for them not to hear the screams of those being tortured. But they didn't react. They thought it was a logical behavior towards prisoners of war.
In Borisoglebsk, they used all kinds of instruments: they gave me electric shocks... There was one who liked to hit me on the head with a wooden mallet. Another tried to strangle me. And I was not the least fortunate. There were fighters from units like Azov, Aidar, or Right Sector (ultra-right-wing military units) who were crushed to the ground almost to death. Sometimes they had to call emergency services to resuscitate a prisoner they had left on the brink of death due to torture.
On one occasion, they placed me in a room next to where they conducted interrogations. The screams never stopped.
The next prison, Pakino [in Vladimir], was not as harsh. You could go up to a week without being beaten.
(At that moment, Mykolayenko interrupts the narrative and requests a break. He covers his face with his hands and admits that remembering what happened in prison is affecting him. He remains hospitalized since his release, as the physical assaults he endured have left a severe impact on him).
Q. Did that kind of torture have any purpose? Were they trying to obtain information or what were they aiming for?
R. They wanted to break people. If I had known what it was like to spend three and a half years in a Russian prison, I would have hanged myself before [being captured], immediately. Only hope saved me.
I can't explain what the Russians are doing. They spend all their time saying that we are Nazis or subhumans. They believe all the propaganda they see. They truly think this is a holy war, a jih