Ukrainian doctor describes Russian torture
A volunteer Ukrainian nurse detained in the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol told US lawmakers on Thursday that she had comforted other detainees as many died during his three months’ imprisonmentcradle and comforted them as best he could when male, female and child prisoners were subjected to Russian torture and untreated wounds.
Ukraine’s Julia Paievska, who was captured by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol in March and held in various locations in the Russian-allied region of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, spoke to lawmakers with the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission. , a government agency established in part to promote international compliance with human rights.
His accounts on Thursday were his most detailed public treatment in captivity, as Ukrainians and international human rights groups say Russian forces have widely detained both Ukrainian non-combatants and combatants.
Paievska, nicknamed Taira by Ukrainians, and her treatment of the wounded in Mariupol during almost seven months Russia’s invasion of Ukraine gained worldwide attention after her bodycam photo was taken provided to the Associated Press.
“Do you know why we are doing this to you?” the Russian asked Paievska as he tortured her, she told the commission. He told the panel his answer to him: “Because you can.”
Hot descriptions of the prisoners’ sufferings were leaked. The 7-year-old boy died in her arms because she didn’t have any of the medical equipment she needed to treat him, she said.
The torture sessions were usually started by their captors, who forced the Ukrainian prisoners to remove their clothes before the Russians began bleeding and torturing the prisoners, he said.
As a result, “some prisoners in the cell screamed for weeks and then died of torture without medical help,” he said. “Then, in this hellish torture, the only things they will feel before death is abuse and more abuse.”
He went on to tell about the number of victims among the captured Ukrainians. “My friend whose eyes I closed before his body cooled. Another guy. And another one. Second.”
Paievska said she was arrested when she was stopped during a routine document check. He was one of thousands of Ukrainians believed to have been captured by Russian forces. The mayor of Mariupol said 10,000 people in his city alone disappeared during the months-long Russian siege of the city. It fell to the Russians in April, and the city was destroyed by Russian bombardment, killing countless people.
The Geneva Conventions single out doctors, both military and civilian, for protection “in all circumstances.” Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland and co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, emphasized that the conditions of the civilian and military prisoners he described violated international law.
Rep. Joe Wilson (RS.C.) called in Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.
“It’s important for the world to hear the stories of those who endured the worst in captivity,” Wilson said. “Evidence is essential for war crimes prosecutions.”
Before her capture, Paievska had recorded more than 256 gigabytes of harrowing bodycam footage showing her team’s efforts to rescue the wounded in the cordoned-off city. He got the footage for Associated Press reporters, the last international team in Mariupol, with a small data card.
The journalists fled the city on March 15 with the card embedded in a tampon through 15 Russian checkpoints. The next day, pro-Russian forces captured Paievska. Lawmakers released AP video of his photo on Thursday.
He appeared on June 17 thin and stocky, his athlete’s body over 22 pounds lighter from lack of nutrition and activity. He said the AP report, which showed he cared about both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers and the civilians of Mariupol, was critical to his release in the prisoner swap.
Paievska had previously refused to speak to reporters in detail about the conditions of detention, describing it only generally as hell. He swallowed hard at times during his testimony Thursday.
The Ukrainian government says it has documented nearly 34,000 Russian war crimes since the war began in February. The International Criminal Court and 14 European Union member states have also launched an investigation.
The UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine reports with documents that prisoners of war detained by the Russians have suffered torture and ill-treatment, as well as insufficient food, water, health care and sanitation.
Russia has not responded to the accusations. Both the UN and the International Red Cross say they have been denied access to the prisoners.
Paievska, who said she suffered a headache during her arrest as a result of a concussion from an earlier explosion, told lawmakers she asked her captors to call her husband and tell him what had happened to her.
“They said, ‘You’ve seen too many American movies.’ There will be no phone call,” he said.
His torturers during his imprisonment sometimes urged him to kill himself, he said.
“I said no. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” he said.