Following the onset of the invasion, Russian prison authorities were instructed to torture Ukrainian prisoners of war, according to the WSJ.

In the initial weeks following the onset of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, prison administrations in the Russian Federation received orders to exhibit brutality towards Ukrainian prisoners of war, employing violence and torture against them.

This was reported to The Wall Street Journal by former employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN).

According to their accounts, in the very first weeks of the invasion, the head of the FSIN for Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region, Major General Igor Potapenko, gathered subordinate special forces and demanded they "be ruthless" and show no mercy towards captured Ukrainian soldiers. He declared that the usual rules no longer applied, lifted all restrictions on violence, and canceled the mandatory body cameras for staff, the sources told the publication.

Similar instructions were issued to FSIN special units across the country, including in Buryatia, Moscow, and Pskov. Those responsible for the torture were required to work in balaclavas and on a rotational basis, changing every month to avoid being identified later.

Former FSIN special forces members who entered the witness protection program after testifying at the International Criminal Court noted that their colleagues perceived the orders from above as a blank check for violence and escalated the cruel treatment of Ukrainians to a new level.

In particular, guards used stun guns on prisoners of war until they were completely discharged, beat them, and experimented with various materials to inflict the most pain and damage.

One method of torture involved deliberately injuring the same area, preventing it from healing. Such actions, combined with a lack of medical assistance, led to blood poisoning: muscle tissue began to rot, gangrene developed, leading to amputations.

According to a former FSIN officer, he is aware of at least one case of a Ukrainian prisoner of war dying from sepsis.

As Russia faced fierce resistance on the battlefield, and Moscow anticipated a different reaction, prison authorities were tasked with breaking the will of Ukrainians. Violence was intended to strip them of the desire to fight, the former FSIN employees stated.

They also mentioned that torture was used to extract "confessions" of war crimes. One interlocutor, who worked with a medical team in the Voronezh region, recounted how the prison guards beat Ukrainians until the sticks broke. Pipes were also used to inflict injuries.

Twenty-five-year-old Pavel Afisov, captured in Mariupol at the beginning of the war, became one of the first Ukrainian prisoners transported to Russia. Over the course of 2.5 years, he was constantly moved from one facility to another before being released last October.

According to Afisov, the most brutal beatings occurred upon arrival at new prisons. For instance, in the Tver region, he was taken to a medical room, ordered to undress, and began to be subjected to electric shocks. After that, he was forced to shout "Glory to Russia, glory to the special forces," and then walk naked to the other end of the room while singing the anthems of Russia and the USSR. When he replied that he did not know the lyrics, he was beaten again with batons and fists. After returning home, Afisov was afraid to sleep, thinking that all of it was not real, and upon waking, he would find himself back in prison.

Another prisoner, Andriy Yegorov, discovered after his release that he had five fractured vertebrae. He recounted how, in the Bryansk region, they were forced to run a hundred meters down a corridor while holding a mattress above their heads. Guards lined up on either side and beat the prisoners on the ribs. Upon reaching the end of the corridor, the inmates were made to do push-ups and squats, during which they were struck with blows at every rise. "The prison guards enjoyed this, laughing among themselves while we screamed in pain," Yegorov recalled.

UN reports have repeatedly asserted that Ukrainian soldiers in Russian captivity are subjected to brutal torture. In particular, in October 2024, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Russia Mariana Katzarova accused the Kremlin of systematic torture of Ukrainian soldiers.