The abduction of Ukrainian civilians is a war crime committed by Russia that the world knows little about
Source: Frontliner
Author: Rita Burkovska. Photos: Danylo Dubchak, Andriy Dubchak
The number of Ukrainian civilians abducted by the Russian army may reach 7,000, according to estimates by the Center for Civil Liberties. To ensure that the Ukrainian authorities do not forget about these captives, their families organized a march in the Kyiv region—from Dymer to Vyshhorod. The route passes through Kozarovychi, where a sign reading “Free the civilian captives” has been erected at the entrance to the village.
Currently, there are ten known residents of this village alone who have been taken captive, and in total, at least 57 civilians were abducted from the Vyshhorod district during the Russian occupation in 2022.
The Russians abduct people right from their homes
In Kozarovychi, we met with Inna Oleksienko—the mother of Oleksandr Yarovyi, one of those abducted by Russian troops during the occupation. Exhausted from searching for her son, the woman shows us the spot where the Russians committed one of their crimes.
“Right here, they forced them to the ground in the yard and beat them, firing shots over their heads. There were two other boys and a girl with my son; they let everyone go, but took only Sasha,” she says, and, opening the cellar door, continues, “They kept Sasha here and beat him.”
Inna Oleksienko explains that at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was in the Zhytomyr region with her younger son, Vladislav, while her older son, Oleksandr, did not want to leave their home in Kozarovychi unattended. Since February 25, 2022, when Russian troops entered the village, the family has stayed in touch via “Viber.” On March 2, the mother managed to speak with her son for the last time; his final words were: “Mom, let’s go—they’re coming.”
The next day, a neighbor from Kozarovychi told Inna that Russians had come to their house and taken Oleksandr with them.
It is known that he, along with other captives, was initially held in one set of warehouse buildings and then transferred to another, where he was kept until at least March 23.
On April 14, 2022, Inna Oleksienko received a final short letter from her son—the same one that relatives of other captives had received, as if copied from a template: “I’m alive, healthy, and everything is fine with me.” The return address on the envelope indicates that at that time, Oleksandr Yarovyi was being held in Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 in the Russian city of Novozybkov, located in the Bryansk region. Later, his mother received a phone call from the Red Cross informing her that her son had been transferred to a prison in the Vladimir region. No information was provided regarding his condition or the conditions of his detention. Ms. Inna believes that the lack of such information is intended to conceal the abuse of Ukrainian captives. According to her, the abducted Ukrainians are being held in solitary confinement in Russian prisons and may not be fed.
Ms. Inna explains that the families of the captives are forced to search for information on their loved ones abducted by the Russians on their own and then provide it to Ukrainian authorities. It should be the other way around, Inna Oleksienko believes.
“We go to the Coordination Headquarters, fill out some paperwork, but we see neither action nor information. Why aren’t civilians being exchanged? Under the Geneva Convention, civilians are supposed to be exchanged for civilians. But we don’t have any Russian civilians in captivity. And Russia considers our detainees to be prisoners of war,” says Ms. Inna.
To take revenge on the Russians, Oleksandr Yarovyi’s father, Ihor, volunteered for the army. He took part in combat operations in the Zaporizhzhia sector, where he was killed on June 6, 2023. Oleksandr still doesn’t know this. Inna now lives only in the hope of seeing her son return home.
“You just keep living, that’s all. I’ve been on tranquilizers for two years now. I wake up thinking about my child and go to bed with those thoughts. We just live and hope that he’ll come home soon. You live for the sake of the children. It’s very hard for him there. I’m holding on, waiting for my child to come home. That’s what gives me strength,” says the mother.
Invaders Are Hunting Down Civilians
Another example of the Russian army’s crimes is the abduction of Oleksandr Lutsenko, a resident of Lisovychi in the Kyiv region. He was captured on March 19, 2022, in a field on the outskirts of the village. We met with his mother, Oleksandra. She described the circumstances under which the Russians abducted her son.
After a few weeks of occupation, residents of the surrounding villages had nearly exhausted their food supplies, and the stores were closed. However, in Lisovychi, it was still possible to get food—a local farmer was sharing his supplies. So Oleksandr would occasionally drive milk, potatoes, and other groceries to neighboring Mykolaivka. On March 19, he and some fellow villagers tried to drive there across the fields to avoid the Russian checkpoints. But this time, they were intercepted by Russian tanks.
The car was stopped, and everyone was ordered to get out. The Russian soldiers threw the bags of food onto the ground, stripped the men, and took them away. It wasn’t until the next day, when her son still hadn’t returned home, that Ms. Oleksandra realized something was terribly wrong:
“I was bedridden for three days. I couldn’t eat or drink,” she recalls.
Then the Russians came to search the house.
“When they came into the yard, I screamed, ‘Give me back my son! I was terrified of what I was doing,” the woman says.
Oleksandr served in the army, and now a Ukrainian flag signed by his comrades hangs in his room at home. His mother wouldn’t let the invaders touch the yellow-and-blue flag:
“When the Russians came into the room to search it and looked at the flag, I said, ‘Don’t touch it, or I’ll tear it apart.’ They probably thought I was crazy,” says his mother.
The invaders responded only with threats, and they never reported what had happened to Oleksandr. What happened to him became known later from a neighbor whom the Russians had held captive for several days in a storage room and then finally released. The elderly woman recounted that the prisoners were kept bound and with their eyes taped shut, and were forced to relieve themselves in a barrel standing in the same room.
Oleksandra Lutsenko says she has no contact with her son and no access to information about his condition or whereabouts. Only once did a letter arrive containing just a few words: “I’m fine.” Later, from Ukrainian prisoners of war who had managed to escape and return home, his mother learned that her son is alive and remains in captivity. At first, he was held in Novobizk, then he was reportedly transferred to the Tula region.
“It’s been so long now. All the men in my family are fighting. You go to work and try to hold it together, but then it all comes flooding back and the tears just roll down—I don’t even know where they come from. I’ve written letters to my son—just neutral things, like how much I love him. The letters are in Russian. But our letters don’t get through. Hope gives me strength. I pray to God and just know that he’s alive. It’s just not possible that someone could have just disappeared,” the mother sighs.
Russia Manipulates the Status of Hostages
It’s quite difficult to determine the exact number of Ukrainian civilians abducted by the Russian army, notes Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties.
“When people were detained, they might have been held in basements or other premises; some of them may have been released, while others were not. Some citizens have disappeared, and we don’t know where they are—perhaps they’ve been killed, perhaps they’re being held captive in Russia,” says Savva.
The site where residents of Kherson were illegally detained during the Russian army’s occupation of the city. Kherson, Ukraine.
According to his estimates, at least 4,200 civilians are known to be held in captivity in Russia, but the number of those abducted could reach as high as 7,000.
The Russians prefer to refer to such people as prisoners of war. However, this is a manipulation, the expert points out, because according to the Geneva Conventions, a person cannot be considered a prisoner of war if they were not participating in an armed conflict at the time of their detention.
“The biggest problem is determining the status of those detained. There is no such thing as a ‘civilian prisoner of war.’ This is manipulation and misinformation on Russia’s part. It is their dream that we would use such a term,” notes Mykhailo Savva.
According to the expert, during the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, civilians were exchanged for civilians. In particular, Russian truck drivers and civilian sailors were detained in Ukraine at that time. But this is no longer being done, so such exchanges are currently impossible. At the same time, it is impossible to exchange civilians for prisoners of war, because under the Geneva Conventions, this would be considered hostage-taking.
Russians Are Torturing Ukrainians in Prisons
Meanwhile, the Russians are not only holding abducted Ukrainians hostage but are also torturing them, Savva points out.
“We know the conditions in which civilian hostages are being held. During the last exchange, which took place on January 3, we noted the very poor physical condition of the Ukrainians who were returned. This stands in stark contrast to the Russians who were released,” says the expert.
He explains that the captives are constantly held in locked cells, which leads to oxygen deprivation and increases their risk of contracting tuberculosis; such conditions also cause sensory deprivation, which severely affects their psychological well-being. Furthermore, the Ukrainians being held hostage by the Russians are not being fed properly and are not receiving medical care.
A report by the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Mission indicates that 91% of captives have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment. The Russians beat civilian hostages, torture them with stun guns, inflict burns and tattoos, and intimidate them—including through rape.
Meanwhile, there is no systematic monitoring of the locations and conditions of the detainees. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are not allowed access to hostages held in Russian prisons.
“The world knows very little about this problem. Everyone knows about prisoners of war, but the capture of civilians on such a scale—it simply hasn’t happened before,” says Mykhailo Savva.
According to the expert’s estimates, there have been 49 exchanges over the past 7 years. Following the most recent exchange, six Ukrainian civilians returned home.
Author: Rita Burkovska. Photos: Danylo Dubchak, Andriy Dubchak
The number of Ukrainian civilians abducted by the Russian army may reach 7,000, according to estimates by the Center for Civil Liberties. To ensure that the Ukrainian authorities do not forget about these captives, their families organized a march in the Kyiv region—from Dymer to Vyshhorod. The route passes through Kozarovychi, where a sign reading “Free the civilian captives” has been erected at the entrance to the village.
Currently, there are ten known residents of this village alone who have been taken captive, and in total, at least 57 civilians were abducted from the Vyshhorod district during the Russian occupation in 2022.
The Russians abduct people right from their homes
In Kozarovychi, we met with Inna Oleksienko—the mother of Oleksandr Yarovyi, one of those abducted by Russian troops during the occupation. Exhausted from searching for her son, the woman shows us the spot where the Russians committed one of their crimes.
“Right here, they forced them to the ground in the yard and beat them, firing shots over their heads. There were two other boys and a girl with my son; they let everyone go, but took only Sasha,” she says, and, opening the cellar door, continues, “They kept Sasha here and beat him.”
Inna Oleksienko explains that at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, she was in the Zhytomyr region with her younger son, Vladislav, while her older son, Oleksandr, did not want to leave their home in Kozarovychi unattended. Since February 25, 2022, when Russian troops entered the village, the family has stayed in touch via “Viber.” On March 2, the mother managed to speak with her son for the last time; his final words were: “Mom, let’s go—they’re coming.”
The next day, a neighbor from Kozarovychi told Inna that Russians had come to their house and taken Oleksandr with them.
It is known that he, along with other captives, was initially held in one set of warehouse buildings and then transferred to another, where he was kept until at least March 23.
On April 14, 2022, Inna Oleksienko received a final short letter from her son—the same one that relatives of other captives had received, as if copied from a template: “I’m alive, healthy, and everything is fine with me.” The return address on the envelope indicates that at that time, Oleksandr Yarovyi was being held in Pretrial Detention Center No. 2 in the Russian city of Novozybkov, located in the Bryansk region. Later, his mother received a phone call from the Red Cross informing her that her son had been transferred to a prison in the Vladimir region. No information was provided regarding his condition or the conditions of his detention. Ms. Inna believes that the lack of such information is intended to conceal the abuse of Ukrainian captives. According to her, the abducted Ukrainians are being held in solitary confinement in Russian prisons and may not be fed.
Ms. Inna explains that the families of the captives are forced to search for information on their loved ones abducted by the Russians on their own and then provide it to Ukrainian authorities. It should be the other way around, Inna Oleksienko believes.
“We go to the Coordination Headquarters, fill out some paperwork, but we see neither action nor information. Why aren’t civilians being exchanged? Under the Geneva Convention, civilians are supposed to be exchanged for civilians. But we don’t have any Russian civilians in captivity. And Russia considers our detainees to be prisoners of war,” says Ms. Inna.
To take revenge on the Russians, Oleksandr Yarovyi’s father, Ihor, volunteered for the army. He took part in combat operations in the Zaporizhzhia sector, where he was killed on June 6, 2023. Oleksandr still doesn’t know this. Inna now lives only in the hope of seeing her son return home.
“You just keep living, that’s all. I’ve been on tranquilizers for two years now. I wake up thinking about my child and go to bed with those thoughts. We just live and hope that he’ll come home soon. You live for the sake of the children. It’s very hard for him there. I’m holding on, waiting for my child to come home. That’s what gives me strength,” says the mother.
Invaders Are Hunting Down Civilians
Another example of the Russian army’s crimes is the abduction of Oleksandr Lutsenko, a resident of Lisovychi in the Kyiv region. He was captured on March 19, 2022, in a field on the outskirts of the village. We met with his mother, Oleksandra. She described the circumstances under which the Russians abducted her son.
After a few weeks of occupation, residents of the surrounding villages had nearly exhausted their food supplies, and the stores were closed. However, in Lisovychi, it was still possible to get food—a local farmer was sharing his supplies. So Oleksandr would occasionally drive milk, potatoes, and other groceries to neighboring Mykolaivka. On March 19, he and some fellow villagers tried to drive there across the fields to avoid the Russian checkpoints. But this time, they were intercepted by Russian tanks.
The car was stopped, and everyone was ordered to get out. The Russian soldiers threw the bags of food onto the ground, stripped the men, and took them away. It wasn’t until the next day, when her son still hadn’t returned home, that Ms. Oleksandra realized something was terribly wrong:
“I was bedridden for three days. I couldn’t eat or drink,” she recalls.
Then the Russians came to search the house.
“When they came into the yard, I screamed, ‘Give me back my son! I was terrified of what I was doing,” the woman says.
Oleksandr served in the army, and now a Ukrainian flag signed by his comrades hangs in his room at home. His mother wouldn’t let the invaders touch the yellow-and-blue flag:
“When the Russians came into the room to search it and looked at the flag, I said, ‘Don’t touch it, or I’ll tear it apart.’ They probably thought I was crazy,” says his mother.
The invaders responded only with threats, and they never reported what had happened to Oleksandr. What happened to him became known later from a neighbor whom the Russians had held captive for several days in a storage room and then finally released. The elderly woman recounted that the prisoners were kept bound and with their eyes taped shut, and were forced to relieve themselves in a barrel standing in the same room.
Oleksandra Lutsenko says she has no contact with her son and no access to information about his condition or whereabouts. Only once did a letter arrive containing just a few words: “I’m fine.” Later, from Ukrainian prisoners of war who had managed to escape and return home, his mother learned that her son is alive and remains in captivity. At first, he was held in Novobizk, then he was reportedly transferred to the Tula region.
“It’s been so long now. All the men in my family are fighting. You go to work and try to hold it together, but then it all comes flooding back and the tears just roll down—I don’t even know where they come from. I’ve written letters to my son—just neutral things, like how much I love him. The letters are in Russian. But our letters don’t get through. Hope gives me strength. I pray to God and just know that he’s alive. It’s just not possible that someone could have just disappeared,” the mother sighs.
Russia Manipulates the Status of Hostages
It’s quite difficult to determine the exact number of Ukrainian civilians abducted by the Russian army, notes Mykhailo Savva, an expert at the Center for Civil Liberties.
“When people were detained, they might have been held in basements or other premises; some of them may have been released, while others were not. Some citizens have disappeared, and we don’t know where they are—perhaps they’ve been killed, perhaps they’re being held captive in Russia,” says Savva.
The site where residents of Kherson were illegally detained during the Russian army’s occupation of the city. Kherson, Ukraine.
According to his estimates, at least 4,200 civilians are known to be held in captivity in Russia, but the number of those abducted could reach as high as 7,000.
The Russians prefer to refer to such people as prisoners of war. However, this is a manipulation, the expert points out, because according to the Geneva Conventions, a person cannot be considered a prisoner of war if they were not participating in an armed conflict at the time of their detention.
“The biggest problem is determining the status of those detained. There is no such thing as a ‘civilian prisoner of war.’ This is manipulation and misinformation on Russia’s part. It is their dream that we would use such a term,” notes Mykhailo Savva.
According to the expert, during the first weeks of the full-scale invasion, civilians were exchanged for civilians. In particular, Russian truck drivers and civilian sailors were detained in Ukraine at that time. But this is no longer being done, so such exchanges are currently impossible. At the same time, it is impossible to exchange civilians for prisoners of war, because under the Geneva Conventions, this would be considered hostage-taking.
Russians Are Torturing Ukrainians in Prisons
Meanwhile, the Russians are not only holding abducted Ukrainians hostage but are also torturing them, Savva points out.
“We know the conditions in which civilian hostages are being held. During the last exchange, which took place on January 3, we noted the very poor physical condition of the Ukrainians who were returned. This stands in stark contrast to the Russians who were released,” says the expert.
He explains that the captives are constantly held in locked cells, which leads to oxygen deprivation and increases their risk of contracting tuberculosis; such conditions also cause sensory deprivation, which severely affects their psychological well-being. Furthermore, the Ukrainians being held hostage by the Russians are not being fed properly and are not receiving medical care.
A report by the UN Human Rights Commissioner’s Mission indicates that 91% of captives have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment. The Russians beat civilian hostages, torture them with stun guns, inflict burns and tattoos, and intimidate them—including through rape.
Meanwhile, there is no systematic monitoring of the locations and conditions of the detainees. Representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross are not allowed access to hostages held in Russian prisons.
“The world knows very little about this problem. Everyone knows about prisoners of war, but the capture of civilians on such a scale—it simply hasn’t happened before,” says Mykhailo Savva.
According to the expert’s estimates, there have been 49 exchanges over the past 7 years. Following the most recent exchange, six Ukrainian civilians returned home.
This is an automatic translation generated by DeepL.