The scale of Russian terror. The report detailing over 8,200 unlawful detentions of Ukrainian civilians was presented in Strasbourg and Brussels
Systematic violations of the rights of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war constitute a deliberate state policy of the Russian regime, which can be characterised as state-sponsored terror. Thousands of Ukrainian civilians are being held by Russia without charge, without contact with their families and without any legal protection. We call on the EU and its Member States to take action in accordance with the European Parliament resolution of 24 February 2026 and to impose sanctions on the Russian state institutions behind this system: the military police of the Russian Ministry of Defence, the FSB and the Federal Penitentiary Service.
“Sanctions for unlawful detention are not punishment or revenge. Their aim must be to improve the conditions of detention of Ukrainian non-combatants and to secure their release – without tying it to a ceasefire or a peace agreement.”
– from the recommendations of the report
On 30 September, during a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, the team of authors presented the study with organisational support from Austausch e.V. (Germany), the Sova Analytical Centre (Ukraine) and the Center for Civil Liberties (Ukraine), and with the assistance of the German Federal Foreign Office. Speakers at the event included experts Mykhailo Savva (Sova Analytical Centre) and permanent expert at the Center for Civil Liberties, Nataliia Yashchuk, Senior War Consequences Officer, Oksana Preobrazhenska (Centre de la Protection Internationale), Larysa Pilgun (Sova Analytical Centre), and independent lawyer Oleksandr Popkov.
A second side event took place on 2 October in Brussels. There, the Centre for Civil Liberties shared data on civilians held in isolation with representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the European Commission, democratic and political foundations, and think tanks.
The presentations focused on documented evidence of a parallel prison system operating within Russian penal institutions. This shadow structure was created specifically to completely conceal Ukrainian civilian hostages.
“By analysing a large body of case files in collaboration with the NGO ‘Ukraine War Archive’ and testimonies regarding the detention of civilians, we have uncovered the existence of completely secret zones — separate, isolated floors within places of detention, to which access is strictly forbidden to any missions. People are being held there entirely unlawfully. This covert operation is managed exclusively by the FSB, whilst the official Federal Penitentiary Service (ФСИН) performs only basic functions: delivering meagre food rations and deliberately refusing to provide medical care,”
– emphasised Nataliia Yashchuk.
Such documented roles of the Russian security agencies prove that the Kremlin’s civilian captives are held in a state of artificially created, absolute ‘incommunicado’ isolation. Within this system of state terror, neither independent monitoring missions, nor the International Committee of the Red Cross, nor lawyers have access to them.
Read the full report to learn why sanctions targeting institutions, rather than only individuals, may be more effective in improving the conditions of detention of Ukrainian civilians.
The monitoring and the follow-up meetings were carried out as part of the “Systematic Collaboration Against Impunity” project, with the financial support of the German Federal Foreign Office under the Civil Society Cooperation programme.
