Aleksandr Bastrykin and Russia’s Investigative Committee have been using torture to fabricate preposterous charges against Ukrainians since 2014, making his call for Putin to reinstate the death penalty chilling

The International Criminal Court has now issued six arrest warrants of high-ranking Russians, including Vladimir Putin and the top men waging Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine

The release of the Crimean Tatar leader, Donbas hostages and imprisoned priests show that publicity and pressure can help, and underscores how much torment other hostages are enduring

Russia is imposing particularly restrictive measures against Ukrainians trying to reach their own homes in occupied Ukraine in order to appropriate their land

Yaroslav Zhuk was subjected to relentless torture, including electric currents attached to genitals, and savage beatings to force out a ‘confession’ to absurd charges

Oleksandr Pohorielov and three other Ukrainians were illegally imprisoned in occupied Donbas and almost certainly tortured for videoed ‘confessions’ to killings which Russia was behind

Yulia Kovieshnikova has effectively been held incommunicado since her abduction in April 2023, with Russia just as intent on hiding her supposed ‘trial’

There is also evidence that such appalling violations of international law have been committed under orders from military command

The Russian invaders executed both Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians from February 2022, but the scale and openness about such atrocities against POWs have risen dramatically

Russia has now added the Putin-initiated ‘Movement of the First’ to its arsenal of youth organizations aimed at indoctrination and militarization of Ukrainian children in occupied Mariupol

Both father and son have been in captivity since April 2022 with the charges against them both grotesque and almost certainly based on ‘confessions’ extracted through torture

Russia is openly seeking to eradicate Ukrainian identity on Ukrainian territory, with one of the methods being to bring in its own people, very likely offering them ‘homes’ plundered from their Ukrainian owners

Instead of complying with international law and treating Vasyl Dmytriuk and Ivan Tereshchenko as prisoners of war, Russia concocted preposterous charges from 2018

Damning details of the role played by the Russian Red Cross and its head, Petr Savchuk, and of the vital role not played by the International Committee of the Red Cross clearly need adequate response

Despite aggressive propaganda, intimidation and forced ‘Russification’, Ukrainians in occupied territory are continuing to speak Ukrainian and demand education in Ukrainian for their children

The ‘trial’ is based on ‘confessions’ obtained after horrific torture which his captors threatened to repeat against his wife and small son

Russia has dropped any attempt to prevent its fighters from posting incriminating evidence. On the contrary, it appears to be deliberately flaunting appalling war crimes against captured Ukrainian defenders

Marianna was just 22 when taken prisoner by the Russians and subjected to physical torture and cruel psychological torment

Chalym Chuldum-ool’s brigade imprisoned 366 men, women and children in horrific conditions, using them as human shields, while Alexander Evtody is believed to have taken part in the bombing of civilians in Mariupol

Russia is stepping up prosecutions for social media posts, however old, and is openly trying to terrorize Ukrainians by demonstrating that even their bank accounts are under surveillance