Third Interim Report on reported violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Ukraine [EN/RU/UK]

I. Executive Summary

1. In line with its monitoring mandate, ODIHR launched the Ukraine Monitoring Initiative (UMI) to monitor and report on the most pressing issues affecting the lives of civilians and prisoners of war (POWs), following the Russian Federation’s military attack in Ukraine on 24 February 2022. This is the Third Interim Report on Reported Violations of International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law produced by the UMI.

2. The Report includes a short overview of violations in the context of the armed conflict since 1 November 2022, while the main body of the report focuses on specific issues reported to ODIHR by 119 witnesses during four monitoring deployments conducted by ODIHR from February to May 2023. The report is also informed by the UMI’s remote monitoring, using open-source investigation techniques and information supplied by institutions of the Russian Federation and Ukraine and civil society organizations, among other actors, that are referenced in the report.

3. ODIHR finds that the Russian Federation armed forces continued the routine use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, leading to numerous civilian casualties. Attacks on Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure continued until March 2023, with severe effects on the humanitarian situation felt to this day. From late April 2023, the Russian Federation intensified its attacks on civilian objects in residential areas, especially in the capital, Kyiv. The Ukrainian armed forces also shelled civilian areas in territories occupied by the Russian Federation, albeit on a much smaller scale.

4. The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate, especially in the east and south of the country in areas of the fiercest fighting, where residents were often unable to escape the violence, had limited or no access to essential services and have had to face the increasing hazard of mines in residential areas.

5. Allegations of summary executions, torture and poor conditions of internment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian authorities continued to emerge. Some reports of illtreatment of Russian POWs by the Ukrainian authorities have also been documented.
   ODIHR analysed videos apparently showing the killing of POWs by both the Russian and Ukrainian armed forces.

6. There were widespread reports of arbitrary deprivation of liberty and enforced disappearances of civilians in areas under Russian Federation occupation. Women and men were apparently targeted for their real or perceived support for the Ukrainian authorities. ODIHR interviewed 19 survivors of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in 2023, including 13 men and six women, as well as the relatives of four individuals who remain arbitrarily detained. According to testimonies received by ODIHR, torture and ill-treatment were widespread in detention and used to extract confessions or information, or to otherwise force detainees to co-operate, as well as to humiliate, intimidate or punish them. All of the 19 survivors interviewed by ODIHR reported having been subjected to torture or ill-treatment. ODIHR also received allegations of torture and ill-treatment for two of the four civilians who remain arbitrarily detained.

7. ODIHR interviewed 27 witnesses in 2023 who reported conflict-related sexual violence, of which 16 (11 men and five women) were survivors themselves. Survivors and witnesses reported allegations of rape, threats of rape and sexual violence, sexual harassment (including verbal harassment through the use of derogatory name calling) electrocution of genitals, and forced nudity. Conflict-related sexual violence was reportedly committed against women and men, civilians and POWs and, overwhelmingly, while in detention.

8. ODIHR gathered further evidence of forcible displacements of civilians within and from areas of Ukraine occupied by the Russian Federation, including children. These included self-evacuations where dire conditions necessitated civilians to flee and ‘deportations’ by the occupation authorities to Ukrainian government-held territory. Witnesses detailed to ODIHR cases of children who were not returned to their parents following participation in recreational camps in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol (Crimea).

9. ODIHR continued to receive reports of unlawful restrictions to the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in occupied territories. Assemblies critical of the Russian Federation were reportedly dispersed using excessive force, including live ammunition, and participation in such protests was linked to cases of abduction and enforced disappearances. Occupation authorities targeted other forms of dissent, including social media posts.

10. Witnesses described in detail to ODIHR continued attempts by the Russian Federation authorities to pressure residents of the occupied territories to obtain Russian Federation passports.

11. ODIHR makes a series of recommendations, calling on both parties to the conflict to address the issues highlighted in this report, as well as to respect and ensure respect for International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law.