Captured Ukrainians have been sexually abused and tortured with twisted jibes about Joe Biden and Volodmyr Zelensky at detention centres in Russia, according to accounts.
One detained Ukrainian prisoner, Oleksii Sivak, claimed Russians enjoyed electrocuting the genitals if detainees with the intent of demoralising captives. The former sailor was apprehended by Russians at his Kherson home in 2022 after they found he was cooking meals for elderly residents unable to get food as well as hanging up Ukrainian flags at a soup kitchen. He was dragged off to a detention centre, a building captured by Russians, that was turned into a torture and interrogation centre.
“They wanted to humiliate me,” he said. “It’s obvious. What do you do to cause a man the most pain? You hurt his wife or his genitals.”
Mr Sivak claimed how captors were gleeful in his suffering and made snide references to ex-Democrat US President Biden and the Ukrainian leader Zelensky. He alleged wires hooked up to a phone or military radio were inserted into a detainee’s anus to administer shocks and was referred to as “calling Biden.”
Another captive, Illya Illiashenko, told Le Monde he suffered sexual violence that makes him believe he might not be able to have children. The soldier was captured following the siege at Azovstal, near Mariupol in 2022, and ended up at a detention centre a few dozen miles into Russia.
He claims Russian soldiers stripped him, forced him up against a wall before he was beaten between his legs with a hammer. He added: “Another time, they stripped me and threw me on the ground. They attached electric clamps to my anus and genitals, and administered electric shocks while shouting: ‘What were you doing in Mariupol? Who gave you orders?'”
Both Mr Sivak and Illiashenko were released from Russian captivity and have gone on to form an organisation that aims to give psychological and legal support to fellow prisoners of war and civilian detainees. The Ukrainian Men’s Network allows victims to share their experiences in therapy sessions.
“We remind each other that we’re not alone,” Mr Sivak told Ukrainian outlet Rubryka. “In captivity, your cellmate could always help you – maybe just by shaking your hand or giving you water when you couldn’t get up. Why shouldn’t we continue helping each other here, too?”
“We want people who come out of captivity not to go through the same difficult path we did…We want their recovery to be more comprehensive and faster so they can reintegrate into society much sooner.”
A United Nations report published in February said 95 per cent of released Ukraine prisoners of war claimed to have been subject to torture or ill-treatment during interrogation. More than half of those interviewed said they were subjected to sexual violence.
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