BBC Investigation Reveals Allegations of Torture in Russian‑Run Detention Facilities in Ukraine

The facilities operated by these individuals belong to a detention network that the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) describes as involving systematic and widespread torture and ill‑treatment of civilians.

Former detainees recount experiencing beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, and sexual violence, noting that civilians are frequently held arbitrarily while their families receive minimal information.

The Kremlin has denounced the OHCHR’s findings as biased. In May, the UN placed Russia on a list of states suspected of using sexual violence as a weapon of war—a claim Russia has labelled baseless.

Ukrainian officials report that over 16,000 civilians have been seized or have gone missing. While some of these incidents occurred after Russia’s full‑scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, others trace back to 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and occupied portions of eastern Ukraine, actions that drew broad international condemnation.

At the time, Liudmyla was employed as a safety engineer at a poultry farm in Novoazovsk, a Donetsk city situated near the Russian border.

Russian‑backed armed groups took control of the city, initiating several years of paramilitary rule.

Liudmyla states that during the occupation she assisted in looking after orphans and delivered supplies to Ukrainian troops, who presented her with a Ukrainian flag bearing handwritten thank‑you notes. She believes a photograph of that flag, which she shared with close friends, reached the Russian‑backed authorities, remarking, “This was probably why they arrested me.”

She says she was charged with espionage and transported to Izolyatsia—a former factory converted into a modern art gallery that Russian‑backed forces had seized. The site later gained notoriety as former detainees reported widespread torture there.

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