U.N. decries torture, killing of prisoners

KYIV, Ukraine — U.N. human rights monitors have documented dozens of summary killings of Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war, as well as other possible war crimes such as the use of torture, human shields and other abuses against POWS since Russia invaded its neighbor, according to a report released Friday.

The first full look by the U.N. human rights office’s mission in Ukraine at the treatment of POWS was released along with an update of human rights violations overall from a six-month period that ran through January. The report was based on interviews with about 400 POWS — half Ukrainians who had been released and the other half Russians held captive in Ukraine.

The team said it had no access to POWS held in Russia or in Russia-occupied parts of Ukraine where it identified 48 internment sites.

The mission said it nonetheless documented some 40 summary executions over the course of the 13-month war.

The U.N. rights office, which has had a monitoring team in Ukraine since fighting broke out in areas of eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia-backed separatists in 2014, has said its findings are based on confirmed cases and typically understate actual tolls.

The reporting from the world body is part of a meticulous effort to uncover details and determine the truth behind reports of atrocities and violations of the law of war committed during the current conflict. The U.N.’S documentation may be introduced as evidence for possible trials at the International Criminal Court.

Matilda Bogner, the head of the U.N. monitoring mission, laid out abuses allegedly committed by both sides but noted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at the root of the violence against civilians and POWS.