Amnesty International has accused government and rebel forces in Ukraine of torturing prisoners and claims the militants have executed detainees, as fighting flared in eastern regions where a supposed ceasefire continues to fray.
The rights group released its damning report as the Kremlin said it was seeking the release of two Russians captured in Ukraine, who told a Moscow newspaper that they were serving soldiers sent on a mission to help the militants.
"Prisoners on both sides have been beaten and subjected to mock executions," said John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's Europe and central Asia programme director. "We have also documented summary killings of those held by separatist groups. It is a war crime to torture or deliberately kill captives taken during conflict."
The group urged United Nations agencies to send an "urgent mission" to Ukraine, after finding that prisoners were "being beaten until their bones broke, tortured with electric shocks, kicked, stabbed, hung from the ceiling, deprived of sleep for days, threatened with death, denied urgent medical care and subjected to mock executions."
The report also “identified at least three recent incidents where separatist fighters summarily killed a total of at least eight pro-Kiev fighters”.
Ukraine’s defence ministry rejected Amnesty’s allegations against its forces, which for 13 months have been fighting Russian-backed separatists in a conflict that has killed more than 6,100 people and has displaced well over a million.
It is not known how many prisoners each side holds, and a pledge to release all detainees under February’s ceasefire agreement has not been fulfilled. In fact, none of the pact’s measures has been implemented and, after an initial post-deal lull, artillery exchanges are increasingly frequent and intense.
Officials said yesterday that three Ukrainian soldiers had been killed and 12 wounded in the previous 24 hours, while one worker died and two were injured when shells hit a factory in government-held territory.
The United States and Nato have warned that Russia and separatist forces appear to be gearing up for a summer offensive, but Moscow continues to insist that it has not sent troops to Ukraine, despite weighty evidence to the contrary.
The Novaya Gazeta newspaper yesterday published video interviews with two men captured in eastern Ukraine last weekend, who say they are Russian soldiers sent on a spying mission near the frontline.
Asked about Moscow’s insistence that there are no Russian troops in Ukraine, Sgt Alexander Alexandrov replied: “As you see, there are. It’s just not good to admit it.” When told that his wife said on Russian television that he had resigned from the army before going to Ukraine, he said: “Why are they disowning us? There was an order. I gave my oath to the motherland.”
Both Sgt Alexandrov and Capt Yevgeny Yerofeyev complained that no Russian official had made contact with them in Kiev.
Ukraine charged both men with terrorism yesterday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was "taking all necessary measures" to free the pair, but declined to comment on whether they were serving soldiers.
