UKRAINE, June 5 —The Prosecutor’s Office has identified 2,200 people who were tortured by Russians in captivity, reported Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andrii Kostin.

Kostin said the Russians tortured and held prisoners in inhumane conditions, beating them up even for speaking Ukrainian. 

‘’Videos of [Russian] torture of Ukrainian prisoners, which are being shared online, are only part of the Kremlin’s criminal strategy,‘’ Kostin said.

He added that more than 500 Ukrainian prisoners of war reported physical violence against them during interrogations, including using electric shock.

The Prosecutor General said that the Russians have created an entire system of detention for Ukrainian prisoners, having set up at least 25 such facilities in 15 regions of Russia.

Ukraine’s representative to the UN, Serhii Kyslytsia, said that the Russian military uses sexual violence as a weapon against civilians and prisoners of war in Ukraine.

According to Serhii Kyslytsia, testimonies from people released from Russian Federation captivity reveal that over 50% of detainees endured torture, rape, or other forms of sexual violence. The Prosecutor General’s Office has documented 290 cases of conflict-related sexual violence, affecting 102 men and 188 women, including 15 children.

Since the Ukrainian army liberated the majority of the Kharkiv Oblast, law enforcement uncovered 28 torture chambers here. It’s more than in other Ukrainian regions that Russia occupied. 

UPD from June 5, 3:24 p.m.: Headline edited for readability.

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  • “More than in previous periods”: the UN mission recorded the execution of 32 Ukrainian prisoners by Russian troops over the winter. Experts published a report and also interviewed 60 Ukrainian soldiers recently released from captivity.