As per universally-accepted norms, prisoners of war must be protected against acts of violence, insults and public curiosity.
As in any war between two sovereign countries, the Ukraine conflict has resulted in thousands of soldiers on both sides being taken captive. Both sides appear to be using prisoners of war in ways that break international law. In May, Russia claimed to have captured almost 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol who were defending the area for as long as they could. Denis Pushilin, a rebel leader in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, was quoted by Tass, Russia’s state news service, saying that Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered after fighting to defend Azovstal would face an international tribunal. Before the surrender of Ukrainian forces in Mariupol, a Russian defence spokesperson, Major general Igor Konashenkov, said in an interview with The Guardian: “It was these Azov battalion Nazis who had been exterminating civilian population in Donetsk and Luhansk republics, deliberately and with exceptional cruelty, for eight years.”
The chair of the state parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, referred to the captured Mariupol fighters as “Nazis” and “war criminals” who should stand trial. The ministry of justice also petitioned the supreme court to declare the Azov regiment a “terrorist organisation”. This raises the possibility that large numbers of Ukrainian soldiers would be tried and executed. Ukrainian authorities have suggested that they will not tolerate abuse of Russian prisoners of war and that they will treat prisoners humanely. According to some reports, Russian prisoners of war have been permitted to call their families, to talk about their experiences and their actions. Ukrainian authorities have also installed a hotline for Russian families to enquire about their missing sons. This might suggest that Ukrainians are playing by the rules when it comes to the treatment of prisoners of war.
