Russian authorities are reportedly illegally deporting Ukrainian civilians to Russia and holding them in penal colonies and pretrial detention centers without charges, investigations, trials, access to lawyers, or designated release dates, according to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

“Russian authorities have detained thousands of Ukrainian civilians in penal colonies and pre-trial detention centers in Russia and occupied Ukraine for ‘opposing the ‘special military operation’ … without formal records of their detention, without initiating criminal or administrative cases, and without ongoing investigations, so the detainees do not ‘formally’ exist in the Russian penitentiary system and have no access to lawyers,” the message reads.

It is reported that some former Ukrainian civilian detainees stated that Russian authorities treated them “like subhumans” and tortured them.

According to ISW, the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) reportedly responded to a request about one of the detained civilians, stating that Russian authorities are holding the detainee in accordance with “the requirements of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War,” however the Geneva Convention prohibits the taking of civilian hostages who are non-combatants. Also, there is currently no mechanism in international law for the release of civilians from captivity, and the Geneva Convention only allows for POWs to be exchanged for other POWs.

“The Ukrainian Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories stated that there were 4,337 Ukrainians in Russian captivity as of November 2023, including 763 civilians, but the BBC noted that these numbers rely on data from the Red Cross, which does not always have access to places where Russian authorities hold Ukrainian civilians, including detention centers and penal colonies in occupied territories. Ukrainian Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets stated that about 25,000 Ukrainian civilians are missing and that Russian forces may have kidnapped a significant number of the missing individuals. The BBC quoted the Ukrainian ‘Find Ours’ project as estimating that there may be about 7,500 Ukrainian civilians unlawfully detained in Russia and occupied Ukraine,” the report reads.

It is reported that Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have identified more than 30 penal colonies and pretrial detention centers in which Ukrainian civilians have been reportedly detained.

ISW reports that the Russian Federation continues to forcibly deport children from the occupied regions of Ukraine under the guise of sending them on vacation. The Ukrainian Resistance Center reported on January 8 that there are more than 450,000 Russian military personnel in Ukraine as of December 2023.