Extract from ABC News
Russian occupiers tortured Ukrainians so brutally that some of their victims died and families were forced to listen as they raped women next door, a United Nations-mandated investigative body has found.
Key points:
- The commission has found Russian soldiers "raped and committed sexual violence against women"
- Russia denies committing atrocities or targeting civilians in Ukraine
- The commission says torture was committed mainly in detention centres operated by the Russian authorities
Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine Erik Møse said his team had "collected further evidence indicating that the use of torture by Russian armed forces in areas under their control has been widespread and systematic".
"In some cases, torture was inflicted with such brutality that it caused the death of the victim," he told the UN Human Rights Council.
He said Russian soldiers "raped and committed sexual violence against women of ages ranging from 19 to 83 years" in occupied parts of Kherson province.
Frequently, family were kept next door and forced to hear the violations, he said.
Russia denies committing atrocities or targeting civilians in Ukraine.
Mr Møse said the commissions attempts to communicate with Russia had gone unanswered.
Moscow was given an opportunity to respond to the allegations at the council hearing but no Russian representative attended.
Russia's defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asked at a later press briefing about the number of torture cases resulting in death, commission member Pablo de Greiff said it was impossible to know due to restricted access, but that it was a "fairly large number and…it comes from very different regions across the country, close and far from the lines of battle".
In August and September, Mr Møse's commission visited parts of Ukraine formerly held by Russian forces such as in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
It found that torture was committed mainly in detention centres operated by the Russian authorities and chiefly against people accused of being Ukrainian informants.
The commission has previously said that violations committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including the use of torture, may constitute crimes against humanity.
The UN body also found a "few cases" of violations committed by Ukrainian forces, Mr Møse said, saying they related to instances of indiscriminate attacks and ill treatment of Russian detainees.
Kyiv has previously said it checks all information regarding the treatment of prisoners of war and will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
The commission was mandated by the council in March 2022 to investigate abuses in Ukraine since the war began and has visited multiple times and conducted hundreds of interviews.
Sometimes evidence gathered by UN-mandated probes is used for national and international trials, including war crimes cases.
Ukraine says Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander killed
Ukraine's Special Forces says Admiral Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has been killed in a Ukrainian attack on the fleet headquarters in the Crimean port of Sevastopol.
The Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond when asked by Reuters to confirm or deny that Mr Sokolov had been killed in the attack on Crimea, which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.
The Ukrainian military said Friday's attack had targeted a meeting of the Russian Navy's leadership in the city of Sevastopol.
"After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored," the special forces said on the Telegram messaging app.
It was not immediately clear how Ukraine's Special Forces counted the dead and wounded in the attack.
Each side has at times exaggerated enemy losses since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and each says little about its own losses.
Russian-installed officials confirmed the Ukrainian attack on Friday, saying that at least one missile struck the fleet headquarters.
Kyiv has stepped up attacks in the Black Sea and Crimea as Ukrainian forces press on with a nearly four-month-old counteroffensive to take back Russian-occupied territory.
Reuters
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