- Hanna O., a woman identified as Hanna O. claimed that Russian women were treated like animals in captivity.
- The 26-yearold was part last week of a prisoner trade that saw 108 Ukrainian female prisoners released.
- Her account adds to the firsthand accounts of torture by Russian forces.
Last week, a large prisoner swap allowed a Ukrainian soldier to return home. She described the torture she and others suffered during six months of captivity by Russian forces.
Hanna O. was her only name to protect family members in Russian-occupied territory. UkrinformShe cried with emotion about her experiences, saying that they treated her like an animal. You’ll hear more about it: Even animals don’t behave this way.
Hanna, 26 years old, was one of 108 women (including 12 civilians) who were Russian captivity releasedMonday was the day of one of largest war-related swaps. Andriy Yaermak, head office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zilenskyy It was the first all-female prisoner swap since February war.
Ukrinform reports that Hanna was held captive while she was in Mariupol, Ukraine’s 36th Marine Brigade. She was one of those Ukrainian service members who surrendered May after being For weeks, Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant was home to thousands of people.Russian forces bombed the area and surrounded it. The next six months were spent in captivity.
They beat the girls. They tortured them with electric current and beat them with hammers. They hanged the girls. I can’t speak about the food because it was so sour. Hanna shared her thoughts with Ukrinform on how women were treated.
“Those with tattoos… wanted to cut off their hands, cut the tattoos off, scalded them with boiling water just because we exist, because we are marines, because our language is Ukrainian,” she stated, adding that the only thing that kept us going was the “dream of returning home.”
—Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) October 17, 2022
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Her account adds to the growing number of first-hand accounts of torture inflicted by Russian forces on civilians and service personnel. No matter who the torture is applied to, it is considered a war crime according to the Geneva Conventions.
Since Ukraine’s advances in Russian-held territory, there have been many more stories.
Russian forces were driven out of Izium by last month’s Russian forces, and an Associated PressInvestigation revealed ten places in the city where civilians and Ukrainians were tortured. One woman said that she was the one who told this story. The Washington PostShe had inscribed details about her torture into the walls where she was kept so that people would be able to see what had happened to her if she didn’t survive.
United Nations Commissioned InvestigatorsThey concluded in September that Russian forces were guilty of a variety of war crimes including torture and rape against soldiers, civilians, children, and others. Reports suggest that Russian forces may have also been involved in forced deportations. In order to make them Russian, we took Ukrainian children against their will..
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