What changed

B100304/2025

B100307/2025

European Parliament resolution on the human cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the urgent need to end Russian aggression: the situation of illegally detained civilians and prisoners of warwar, and the continued bombing of civilians

(2025/2710(RSP))

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and Russia,

– having regard to the UNHague Charter,Conventions, the HagueUN Conventions,Charter, the Geneva Conventions and thetheir additional protocolsprotocols, thereto,the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,Court and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

– having regard to the Helsinki Final Act of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) of 1 August 1975, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe of the OSCE of 21 November 1990 and the UN Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 5 December 1994 (the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances),

– having regard to the statement of 16 October 2024 by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war,

– having regard to Resolution 2573 (2024) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on missing persons, prisoners of war and civilians in captivity as a result of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine,

– having regard to the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine of 28 May 2025 entitled ‘“They are hunting us”: systematic drone attacks targeting civilians in Kherson’,

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas three years ago, on 24 February 2022, the Russian Federation launched an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, in gross violation of the UN Charter and its own international commitments, including the Helsinki Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances and the Treaty on Friendship, Cooperation and Partnership between Ukraine and the Russian Federation; whereas the Russian aggression against Ukraine started in 2014 with the occupation of parts of the Donbas region and the occupation and annexation of Ukraine’s Autonomous Republic of Crimea;

A. whereas for over a decade, since the 2014 annexation of Crimea and occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russia has openly violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, leading to severe humanitarian, economic and ecological consequences, and regional instability; whereas Russia could stop its brutal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine at any moment;

B. whereas since then, Russian forces have continued to carry out and escalate indiscriminate attacks against residential areas and civilian infrastructure; whereas heavy and intense bombardments, combined with ground fighting, have continued throughout 2025; whereas the UN has confirmed that more than 12 500 civilians, including hundreds of children, have been murdered since February 2022; whereas the actual civilian death toll is estimated to be in the tens of thousands; whereas many more civilians have been injured, tortured, forcibly ‘re-educated’, harassed, raped, kidnapped or forcibly displaced;

B. whereas, according to Ukrainian data since the beginning of 2025, the Russian army has launched nearly 27 700 guided aerial bombs, over 11 000 Shahed drones, around 9 000 other types of combat drones, and more than 700 missiles into Ukraine; whereas Russian forces have systematically targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure, killing more than 13 300 civilians and injuring over 32 700, as reported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as of May 2025;

C. whereas while their exact numbers are unknown, thousands of Ukrainians, both military personnel and civilians, are likely to be held in captivity currently, in Russia and occupied Ukraine;

C. whereas Russian forces are also responsible for forced deportations, including of children, some forcibly adopted, as well as disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, executions of civilians and prisoners of war (POWs), and other acts of terror, including sexual violence, in particular against women and girls; whereas Russia continues to illegally alter the ethnic composition of occupied Ukrainian territories;

D. whereas the vast majority of Ukrainian prisoners, both civilian and military personnel, held by the Russian Federation are deprived of any recognised legal status or procedural safeguards, leaving them without rights, legal representation or the ability to contact their families; whereas in 90 % of cases, relatives do not know whether their loved ones are alive;

D. whereas Russia’s war has devastated the lives of Ukrainian children, with over 1 800 killed or injured and millions displaced; whereas over 65 % of Ukrainian children are living in poverty, with up to 100 000 still in institutional care, and their education is severely disrupted; whereas over 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, and nearly half experience distress and isolation;

E. whereas there is documented evidence of repeated extrajudicial executions of prisoners of war (POWs) and civilians by members of the armed forces of the Russian Federation, as well as other grave violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian law instruments;

E. whereas Ukraine and international bodies have documented hundreds of executions of Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces since February 2022; whereas the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating the execution of 268 Ukrainian POWs (208 on the battlefield and 59 in the ‘Olenivka’ penal colony); whereas the increasing number of executions, together with the available evidence, indicates that these crimes are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a systematic and deliberate policy, constituting serious violations of international law and human rights, as well as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute;

F. whereas the Russian authorities have launched thousands of politically motivated criminal prosecutions against Ukrainian POWs and civilian detainees, often based on confessions extracted under torture and without credible evidence; whereas these fabricated charges commonly include terrorism, espionage and treason, with the charges of treason frequently following the forced imposition of Russian citizenship in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine;

F. whereas Ukrainian POWs are subjected to starvation, denial of medical care, and physical, sexual and psychological violence; whereas the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has documented a widespread and systematic practice of torture by Russian authorities against Ukrainian civilians and POWs, with dozens dying in captivity as a result of their abuse; whereas over 5 600 Ukrainians have been identified as victims of torture in criminal proceedings, and more than 170 torture chambers have been documented;

G. whereas families of Ukrainian detainees face institutional barriers to accessing legal recourse or filing official inquiries, as the Russian state requires the use of domestic digital identification platforms that are not accessible to non-citizens; whereas in some cases, relatives advocating publicly for detainees have seen their loved ones punished with extended sentences or re-arrested on additional charges;

G. whereas over 70 000 Ukrainians are currently listed as missing, with the real figure likely higher due to unreported disappearances; whereas Russia has not provided any information about POWs or unjustly detained civilians;

H. whereas the death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna in Russian captivity highlights the grave and growing dangers faced by Ukrainian journalists held by Russian forces; whereas others, including Iryna Danylovych, Dmytro Khyliuk and Iryna and Heorhiy Levchenko, remain in detention under life-threatening conditions;

H. whereas preliminary Ukrainian data indicates that over 16 000 Ukrainian civilians are currently being held in Russian-operated prisons; whereas the Russian authorities hold fake trials, exert tremendous physical and psychological pressure, and impose long sentences, accusing those detained of serious crimes such as espionage, terrorist activities and financing terrorist organisations;

I. whereas the Russian authorities consistently deny POWs access to international organisations in an effort to hide the atrocities taking place, leaving POWs even more vulnerable to violations of international law; whereas the Geneva Conventions guarantee POWs the right to regular correspondence, access to medical care, and visits from international organisations; whereas Russia’s treatment of Ukrainian POWs amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity;

I. whereas Ukraine has conducted 65 prisoner exchanges with Russia since February 2022, resulting in the release of 5 757 individuals, including three large-scale exchanges in May 2025, with an additional 469 individuals released outside formal exchange mechanisms;

J. whereas the Russian authorities have detained large numbers of civilians in all temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine; whereas they target, among others, local authorities, civil servants and journalists; whereas the scale at which Russia is conducting these enforced disappearances against civilians is clearly in compliance with a coordinated state policy;

J. whereas the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity and the war crime of attacking civilians, through drone attacks targeting civilians in the Kherson region;

K. whereas in all temporarily occupied areas of Ukraine, Russian-installed proxy paramilitary structures and de facto authorities have played a key role in implementing Russia’s policy of repression and terror against the Ukrainian population by systematically engaging in intimidation, arbitrary detentions, torture and enforced disappearances of civilians under the guise of administrative or security procedures;

K. whereas Russia, while posturing as a defender of the Christian faith and values, has been conducting mass and systematic violations of religious freedoms in occupied Ukrainian territories, with an outright ban on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, at least 47 Ukrainian religious leaders killed and more subjected to torture, and religious property deliberately targeted and destroyed by Russian forces; whereas, in parallel, Russia weaponises the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a tool to tyrannise and control religious communities and the Ukrainian population more broadly;

L. whereas many victims of enforced disappearances are transferred either to local detention facilities or deported to Russia; whereas various forms of torture are reportedly commonplace in these detention facilities; whereas civilians regularly go missing for months if not years, with some dying in detention; whereas these acts also amount to crimes against humanity;

L. whereas the current estimated cost of damage caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine over the past three years stands at over EUR 500 billion – a conservative figure that continues to grow daily;

M. whereas since the occupation and annexation of Crimea in 2014, the Russian Federation has systematically targeted Crimean Tatars with politically motivated prosecutions, enforced disappearances, intimidation and harassment; whereas Crimean Tatar leaders, journalists, civil society activists and religious figures have faced disproportionate repression, including under the guise of anti-extremism and antiterrorism charges; whereas these actions amount to violations of international human rights and humanitarian law and aim to erase the identity and presence of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people;

M. whereas the EU has adopted 17 packages of sanctions against Russia; whereas despite these and other sanctions, Russia continues to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine;

N. whereas cases of punitive psychiatry, including forced institutionalisation, drugging and involuntary treatment of both children and adults, have been documented in at least 42 psychiatric institutions and psycho-neurological boarding schools located in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine; whereas Russian occupying authorities have revived Soviet-style psychiatric abuse as a tool of repression, targeting individuals for their perceived pro-Ukrainian views or their refusal to accept Russian citizenship; whereas such acts represent a serious breach of the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities;

1. Reiterates its strongest possible condemnation of Russia’s unprovoked, illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine; demands that Russia immediately cease all military activities in Ukraine, fully withdraw from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, end forced deportations, release all detained and deported Ukrainians, and compensate Ukraine and victims of war crimes for the damage caused; underlines that Russia, its leadership and its allies bear full responsibility for the war and the atrocities committed, and calls for full accountability;

O. whereas the families are left traumatised as their loved ones are held incommunicado and the Russian authorities, in full violation of international law, refuse to provide information about people’s whereabouts;

2. Strongly condemns the execution of Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces, and the ongoing use of torture and inhumane treatment by Russia, which constitute war crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions; calls for the EU, its Member States and international partners, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross, to increase pressure on Russia to comply with its international obligations and to grant international humanitarian organisations immediate access to all prisoners and places of detention; demands the immediate and unconditional release and return of all civilians illegally detained by Russia;

P. whereas the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine confirmed, in its latest report of March 2025, that the enforced disappearances committed by the Russian authorities in a widespread and systematic manner against the civilian population, in the context of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, amount to crimes against humanity; whereas the same body documented countless cases proving that Russia’s use of sexual violence, including rape, as a form of torture is systemic in detention facilities and that this practice is clearly a deliberate policy, thus stressing that the Russian authorities committed the war crimes of rape and sexual violence as a form of torture;

3. Strongly condemns the Russian Federation’s violent actions against Ukrainian children, including killings, forced transfers and deportations, illegal adoptions, sexual abuse and exploitation, attempts to erase their Ukrainian identity via forced Russification, and militarisation; further condemns Belarus’ involvement in these actions; stresses that these acts form part of a genocidal strategy to erase Ukrainian identity; calls for increased EU support for Ukrainian children’s education, healthcare and mental health services, and for child protection, including trauma recovery and safe learning environments; urges the EU and Ukraine to prioritise children’s needs in aid and reconstruction efforts;

Q. whereas the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, whose Ukraine Conflict Observatory has been documenting Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children using biometric and satellite data and supported six International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments, has had its funding cut by the Trump administration; whereas the observatory has ceased all its work collecting data crucial for achieving accountability as of 1 July 2025; whereas the observatory’s database contains records on more than 30 000 Ukrainian children allegedly abducted by Russia from over 100 locations;

4. Reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to increase humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance for victims of Russian captivity, including access to medical and psychological care, reintegration services and legal assistance; commends Ukrainian and international civil society organisations for supporting families of abducted Ukrainian children, POWs and illegally detained civilians; calls for the EU, its Member States and the international community to assist their efforts and intensify pressure on Russia to return all abducted and detained Ukrainians;

1. Condemns, in the strongest possible terms, Russia’s continued war of aggression against Ukraine and demands that Russia immediately terminate all military activities in Ukraine, unconditionally withdraw all forces and military equipment from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine and compensate Ukraine for the damage caused to its people, land and infrastructure;

5. Expresses deep concern at the reported 70 000 missing Ukrainians, and calls for increased efforts to investigate their whereabouts;

2. Expresses its undivided solidarity with the people of Ukraine, fully supports Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and underlines that this war constitutes a serious violation of international law;

6. Welcomes the recent agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine; calls for the EU and its Member States to support efforts to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by Russia and bring the perpetrators to justice;

3. Decries Russia’s policy of widespread and systematic use of enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention, torture and other forms of ill treatment against Ukrainian civilian detainees and POWs; demands that Russia notify the Ukrainian Government of the status of all POWs and allow international humanitarian organisations unhindered access; stresses that, under international law, Russia must provide adequate medical care to all Ukrainians in captivity and directly repatriate seriously sick and wounded POWs; urges Russia to release all unlawfully detained civilians without delay;

7. Reaffirms the EU’s commitment to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, based on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and supports Ukraine’s Peace Formula; stresses that any peace agreement must uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and prevent Russia from rearming in the future; believes that the EU must contribute to robust security guarantees for Ukraine; reiterates that only Ukraine can determine the terms of a peace agreement acceptable to its people;

4. Demands the immediate release of all Ukrainian civilians held in Russian captivity who do not fall under any category for lawful detention under international humanitarian law, with particular attention to women, children and elderly individuals; underlines that their continued detention places them at imminent risk and constitutes a grave violation of the Geneva Conventions;

8. Believes that in order for Russia to seriously consider ending its war of aggression, beginning with a sustained ceasefire, substantial additional pressure must be applied by the EU and like-minded partners; calls on the Member States, therefore, to urgently adopt the 18th EU sanctions package and to impose further sanctions on key Russian industrial sectors (metallurgical, chemical, agricultural, financial, IT and nuclear) and raw materials (such as steel, titanium, nickel and uranium); reiterates its call for a full embargo on Russian fossil fuels, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and all other hydrocarbon products, and for further reductions in the price cap on Russian petroleum products, in coordination with G7 partners; calls for sanctions on the rest of the ‘shadow fleet’ vessels, as well as their captains, owners, cargo suppliers and buyers, and for individual sanctions related to Russia’s military-industrial complex, propaganda and disinformation activities to be further expanded; urges the EU and its Member States to systematically tackle sanctions circumvention and strengthen accountability for sanctions violations; regrets the US administration’s decision to lift sanctions on a number of Kremlin-linked financial entities and calls for the swift adoption and ratification of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025;

5. Condemns the ongoing persecution of Crimean Tatars in illegally occupied Crimea, including politically motivated detentions, torture, enforced disappearances and restrictions on freedom of religion, expression and association; calls for the immediate release of all Crimean Tatars imprisoned on political grounds and urges the EU and international organisations to enhance monitoring and advocacy on behalf of the indigenous people of Crimea;

9. Reiterates its calls for the EU and its Member States to urgently transfer the financial custody of immobilised Russian assets to one or more special purpose vehicles so as to shield them from veto weaponisation at EU level and make them available, through a loan backed by Ukraine’s legitimate claim to war reparations, for Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction, and reparations for victims; calls for Russia’s access to high-tech components and equipment, used in Russian missiles, drones, electronic intelligence and warfare, to be further limited;

6. Calls for the EU, its Member States and international partners to launch an urgent international campaign aimed at documenting and publicising evidence concerning the imprisonment of Ukrainian minors and elderly civilians in Russian detention, including the use of documented case studies compiled by civil society organisations; stresses the importance of visibility for accountability and rescue operations;

10. Stresses that the EU, together with its Member States, is Ukraine’s primary strategic ally and thus must significantly increase its assistance and support, particularly regarding the defence equipment, training and strategic assistance necessary to uphold Ukraine’s right to self-defence; calls for the EU and its Member States to ensure the stable, predictable and timely supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine and to increase joint procurement, expand production capacities and further integrate Ukraine into European defence industrial chains; notes, with deep concern, the delays and reduction in the supply of US aid, which have already severely impacted Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and which risk emboldening further Russian advances; notes that EU support to Ukraine has surpassed that of the United States, underlining the EU’s vital role in sustaining Ukraine’s resistance and recovery;

7. Demands immediate and unhindered access for international humanitarian organisations, including the International Committee of the Red Cross, to all known and suspected sites where Ukrainian civilians are held, with particular attention to women, children and elderly people;

11. Calls for the EU and its Member States to work towards maintaining the broadest possible international support for Ukraine, including by building coalitions with like-minded non-EU partners;

8. Insists on the immediate release of all Ukrainian journalists held in Russian captivity; calls for the international community to take urgent diplomatic and legal steps to secure their safety and freedom, and to ensure accountability for crimes committed against media professionals in the context of the war;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the relevant EU institutions, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Russian authorities.

9. Strongly condemns the use of punitive psychiatry by the Russian occupying authorities in Ukraine, including the forced institutionalisation of civilians, especially children and individuals with pro-Ukrainian views, in psychiatric hospitals under inhumane and degrading conditions; calls for urgent international monitoring of psychiatric institutions in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and the immediate release of all individuals detained on politically motivated psychiatric grounds;

10. Insists that all perpetrators, in particular commanders and others within the Russian occupying forces ordering, soliciting or inducing the commission of crimes under international law, are held accountable in accordance with international standards;

11. Calls for the EU and the broader international community to use all possible judicial and non-judicial accountability mechanisms, including universal jurisdiction, to pressure Russia to immediately cease its campaign of enforced disappearances and torture;

12. Calls for the EU and the Member States to step up support for Ukraine to enable it to address the widespread mental health and psychosocial needs resulting from the armed conflict, by ensuring access to the relevant services for those returning from captivity, allocating resources to those services and enhancing their institutional coordination, legal regulation, monitoring and evaluation;

13. Regrets the decision by the Trump administration to cut the funding of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab and is concerned about the consequent major gap in accountability efforts; welcomes the transfer of the lab’s data to Europol and calls for the EU and the Member States, in cooperation with like-minded partners, to ensure the continuation of the observatory’s work;

14. Commends the work of the ICC on its ongoing investigation into the situation in Ukraine from 21 November 2013 onwards, encompassing any past and present allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide committed on any part of the territory of Ukraine by any person; expresses concern about the worsening attacks on the ICC by the United States, and the impact this will have on the ICC’s ability to continue conducting its investigations; calls on the Commission to urgently activate the blocking statute and on the EU Member States to increase their diplomatic efforts in order to protect and safeguard the ICC as an indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system;

15. Stresses Europe’s responsibility to curb Russia’s aggression, both in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and also for the sake of Europe’s own security; calls therefore for the EU and its like-minded partners to increase their efforts to shift the trajectory of Russia’s war against Ukraine and set the conditions for a just, comprehensive and lasting peace; urges the Member States and like-minded partners, therefore, to provide Ukraine with more arms and ammunition to enable Ukraine to liberate its territory and deter further Russian attacks; notes, in this context, that a number of Member States are militarily neutral and urges them to increase their non-military support for Ukraine in line with their constitutions;

16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.