Intelligence Chief Says Ukrainian Soldiers Freed by Russia Experience Brutal Torture in Prisons

Head of Ukrainian Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov. (Wikimedia Commons/Presidentate.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian soldiers released by Russia have been subjected to brutal torture while in detention, a senior intelligence official says.

Ukraine announced the release of its 215 soldiers, part of a prisoner swap totaling nearly 300, the largest since the invasion in February, including rebel leaders at the Azovstal Mariupol steel factory.

"Many of them have been brutally tortured," Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's head of defense intelligence, told a news conference, without giving further details on the signs of torture, as cited from Baron's from AFP, September 23.

"Some detainees are in more or less normal physical condition, except for chronic malnutrition due to poor conditions of detention," Budanov continued.

The detainees are being held in Ukrainian territory occupied by Moscow forces, as well as in Russia itself, the top official said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky said in the same press conference, "absolutely all of the Ukrainian prisoners who were exchanged needed psychological rehabilitation."

Previously, Russia released nearly 300 prisoners, including fighters in Mariupol, as well as 10 foreign nationals fighting for Ukraine, in exchange for the release of 55 Russians, including Viktor Medvedchuk, the leader of a pro-Russian party facing treason charges. .

"This is definitely a victory for our country, for our entire society. And most importantly 215 families can see their loved ones safe and at home," President Zelensky said.

In this release, five senior Ukrainian military commanders were released. They included Lieutenant Colonel Denys Prokopenko, the commander of the Azov battalion who did much of the fighting, and his deputy, Svyatoslav Palamar. Also released was Serhiy Volynsky, commander of the 36th Marine Brigade.

The trio had helped lead the resistance for weeks from bunkers and tunnels under the giant Mariupol steel mill, before they and hundreds of Azov fighters surrendered in May to Russian-backed forces.