Quotes of the Week

Week-ending 7 March 2025

“Russia’s systemic incommunicado detention of Ukrainian POWs and civilians reflects a deliberate policy designed to dehumanize and silence them, leaving their families in agony as they wait for news about their loved ones. Torture takes place in complete isolation from the outside world, with the victims entirely at the mercy of their captors for survival. This is not a series of isolated incidents – it is a systematic policy that violates every tenet of international law.”

– Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

Source: ‘Russia/Ukraine: Ill-treatment of Ukrainians in Russian captivity amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity,’ Amnesty International, 4 March 2025

“They started torturing me right away. They beat me with stun guns, these special sticks, it was very painful. I saw how the guys started to die after that. Their hearts just couldn’t take it anymore”

– Volodymyr Shevchenko, a former POW who spent over two years in Russian captivity.

“I won’t know where to look for my husband and where to write letters. This black darkness of not knowing – it’s killing me”

– Olena Kolesnyk, whose husband Serhii was captured in July 2024, said the little information she had about his whereabouts was unofficial and unconfirmed.

Background by Amnesty International: Amnesty International’s report is based on interviews with 104 people in Ukraine between January and November 2024. These include five former Ukrainian POWs, family members of 38 POWs, family members of 23 Ukrainians “missing in special circumstances”, 28 formerly detained civilians and their families, and 10 Russian POWs currently detained in Ukraine. […] While their exact numbers are unknown, it is likely that thousands of Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, are currently held in captivity in Russia and occupied Ukraine. The majority of Ukrainian POWs are held incommunicado, with their families receiving little to no information about their fate, status or whereabouts. At the same time, Russian authorities have denied international organizations access to them as part of a deliberate policy to put POWs beyond the protection of international law. Prolonged incommunicado detention may amount to inhuman treatment.

Artem Kolomiiets is a prisoner of war combat medic who was captured in May 2022 during the siege of Mariupol. His health condition is critical, and his life is in danger due to torture and other ill-treatment inflicted health issues and denial of adequate medical aid. He is kept incommunicado. As a gravely ill POW, he must be immediately repatriated to Ukraine or accommodated in a neutral country on health grounds.

Source: Ukraine/Russia: Respect the Rights of Injured POW: Artem Kolomiiets, Amnesty International, 3 March 2025

Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian military personnel and civilian in captivity amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Thousands of members of the Ukrainian forces are currently held captive in Russia and occupied Ukraine as prisoners of war (POWs). These POWs are often held for months or years without their detention being notified to the relevant authorities. They are denied the right to communicate with the outside world, and Russia has prevented international organizations from accessing them. This treatment amounts to incommunicado detention which, given its duration, is considered inhuman treatment. This approach is designed to place POWs beyond the protection of international law, facilitating torture and other ill-treatment, including denial of medical care they require, and in some cases, unlawful killing of POWs. Committed in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, these acts amount to war crimes.

Source: ‘Ukraine: A deafening silence: Ukrainians held incommunicado, forcibly disappeared and tortured in Russian captivity,’ Amnesty International, 4 March 2025

“Six false videos in just over six months: the relentless nature of this Russian propaganda reflects how effective RSF is. This false and misleading content — which uses the credible reputation of RSF to spread untrue information — illustrates not only the dangers of Russian disinformation but the consequences of the inaction of platforms like X, how ineffective the current fight against informational interference is, and how dangerous the news media’s passivity in the face of these attacks can be. These videos are not mere anecdotes but part of a massive strategy to influence and manipulate public opinion and legitimise the Kremlin’s discourse, particularly on Ukraine. Who benefits from this crime? The Kremlin and its allies.

– Thibaut Bruttin, RSF Director General

Source: Here’s how Russian propaganda keeps stealing the identity of RSF to manipulate public debate, RSF, 6 March 2025

Background from RSF: Since July 2024, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has been targeted by a disinformation campaign that advances Russia’s agenda. Several videos circulating online credit the NGO with statements, information and positions it has never said or held. The videos use the credible reputation of RSF to make the Kremlin’s narrative seem legitimate and fact-based in the eyes of the public. 

 “This investigation, carried out in partnership with three Ukrainian media, reveals the extent of the ill-treatment inflicted on Victoria Roshchyna and the extreme delay in her medical treatment despite the rapid deterioration in her state of health. By refusing to release the journalist and provide her with appropriate care — until the point when she could no longer stand — Russia bears enormous responsibility for what happened to this Ukrainian reporter. The fact that her body has not been returned to her family only strengthens any suspicions about the abuse she suffered and casts further doubts on the declaration of her death.

– Arnaud Froger and Pauline Maufrais, Head of the RSF Investigation Office and RSF Regional Officer for Ukraine

Source: ‘Declared dead by Russia: RSF reveals the brutal reality of Victoria Roshchyna’s last months in captivity,’ RSF, 7 March 2025

 “I’m not afraid of challenges. I will find a way out.”

– Ukrainian journalist Victoria Roshchyna, June 2023

Source: Declared dead by Russia: RSF reveals the brutal reality of Victoria Roshchyna’s last months in captivity, RSF, 7 March 2025

Background from RSF: The Ukrainian journalist was declared dead in September 2024 in a terse letter from the Russian Ministry of Defence. Yet her body was never returned to her family and the circumstances of her death remain unclear. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) spent months investigating her captivity and presumed death in partnership with three Ukrainian media outlets. The NGO is exposing the inhumane conditions of Victoria Roshchyna’s detention and the blatant lack of medical care provided to the journalist despite alarming signs that her health was deteriorating as early as spring 2024.

“Much has been said about the evils of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Its antisemitic element, however, has been underestimated. Russia’s major war aim was fascist regime change, the overturning of a democratically-elected president in favor of some sort of collaborator. The premise is absurd: that Ukrainians do not really exist as a nation, and in fact would prefer a Russian. But it was also antisemitic: that it is unnatural that a Jew could hold an important office. Volodymyr Zelens’kyi, the Ukrainian president, is of Jewish origin. Members of his family fought in the Red Army against the Germans. Others were murdered in the Holocaust. Although his Jewishness is not very relevant in Ukrainian politics, it is highly salient to Russian (and other) antisemites.”

– Timothy Snyder

Source: ‘Antisemitism in the Oval Office,’ Substack, 7 March 2025