The treatment of Russian prisoners of war (POWs) in Ukraine meets international standards and is completely different from the treatment experience by the Ukrainian POWs in Russia, where most of them are subjected to torture, which would be classified as a war crime, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Danielle Bell has said.

"The torture [of Ukrainian POWs in Russian captivity] is widespread and regular. It happens in these facilities. It's happened to more than 95% of the Ukrainian POWs. Without question, the torture of the Ukrainian POWs would amount to a war crime," she said on air of the Dutch television channel Nederlandse Omroep Stichting (NOS).

According to Bell, the Ukrainian POWs are subjected to torture during the initial interrogation, "that would include being beaten with metal rods, sticks, stripped, brutally beaten, electric shocks."

"It's certainly the worse that I’ve seen in my career of 20 years in the UN, visiting the places of detention," she emphasized.

The mission head also said she does not have access to the Ukrainian POWs in Russia and is only able to receive information from them when they return home from captivity. On the contrary, "in terms of the captivity of Russian POWs held by the Ukrainians, it's first hand, because we have direct access to the Russian POWs. We can assess the place of detention," she said.

"What merits remark, is that the treatment of the Russian POWs is completely different to what we see to the treatment of Ukrainian POWs by the Russian Federation. So, for example, the Ukrainian authorities give us unimpeded access to the interned camps as well as to the temporary jails where the Russian POWs are kept. And while there were some issues in the initial days of the full-scale invasion, what we’ve seen particularly in the past year and a half is conditions of detention that entirely comply with international humanitarian law," Bell said.

Meanwhile, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andriy Yermak urged the international community "to condemn these actions and take decisive measures to stop these war crimes and hold those responsible accountable."

He emphasized that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's Peace Formula includes Point 7 on restoring justice.