Captured Ukrainian fighters detail torture claims against Russian soldiers
Captured Ukrainian fighters have claimed Russian soldiers are torturing prisoners of war, alleging some are sticking needles into wounds and denying them medicine.
The Azov Regiment was based in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, which fell under Russian control in May after a prolonged siege.
Many of its personnel were captured when the city was taken, with many being taken to Olenivka prison.
Speaking after being released as part of a prisoner swap, three of the regiment have levelled personal accusations of torture while being held as prisoners of war,
One of the men, codenamed Wikipedia, said that after being captured in Mariupol he had to have his leg amputated, but was subjected to cruel interrogations before they would give him vital medication.
Speaking at a press conference in Ukraine, he said: "Russia is using all tools for coercion. Russia does not look for the truth, it already knows the answers it wants.
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"In my personal case the interrogation started before they gave me antibiotics after the amputation of my left leg.
"They exposed soldiers to torture with needles inserted into the wounds, not offering water, not offering access to sufficient medicines."
Wikipedia said Russian claims that they are providing medical treatment are false, and doctors were not brought in to help treat the wounded.
"The Russians claim they are giving full fledged medical treatment... but no special medical doctors would come to us," he said,
"They wouldn't bring medicines, and the same was for surgical procedures. when they didn't want to treat soldiers they would just keep them in the hospitals."
Other soldiers, codenamed Mango and Cherry, said the Russians attempted to have them sign confessions admitting they had been responsible for destroying Mariupol and killing its people.
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Mango, who said he had a hand amputated after being wounded, said the conditions were horrific, with each soldier only having around one metre square each in the packed prison.
The soldier also claimed the Russians would deny them water for up to three days, and threaten their captives with executions.
He added: "There was a limitation on food supplies; the Russians were not meeting the Geneva Convention."
On tactics used to have them sign false confessions he said: "I saw soldiers being beaten, they would force us to take our clothes off and if you tried to lift your head they would beat you.
"I was being asked to sign evidence against our commanders claiming that we bombed the city. They wanted us to take the blame for what happened to the city, but I refused."
Cherry told the conference: "They were threatening me with murder during so called investigative measures.. they wanted us to claim that we were killing civilians.
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"Of course we didn't do that, that's why we didn't sign the documents."
He added that Russian soldiers would attempt to use psychological tactics in an attempt to break them down.
"They were saying the Ukrainian side doesn't want to exchange you, they were alway finding reasons not to swap prisoners, they were always finding reasons and scapegoats," he said.
When asked if they believed him, Cherry replied: "No, never."
The Azov Regiment has been one of the most prominent Ukrainian military groups in the six months since Russia launched its attempted invasion.
It has previously been criticised for having far-right and ultra-nationalist roots, but Ukraine's government has said it has been reformed and now has nothing to do with politics.
Three weeks ago the Kremlin denounced the Azov Regiment as a "terrorist" organisation and imposed stringent laws which could see members of the group jailed for up to 20 years.
In response, the Azov Regiment claimed Russia was trying to justify war crimes, and urged the US State Department to designate Russia a terrorist state.
