What changed

B100305/2025

B100304/2025

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 war,war and the continued bombing of civilians

(2025/2710(RSP))

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Russia’s war of aggressionUkraine againstand Ukraine,Russia,

– having regard to the Charter of the United Nations,

– having regard to the UN Charter, the Hague Conventions, the Geneva Conventions and the additional protocols thereto, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court,

– having regard to theRule Geneva136(2) Conventions,of its Rules of Procedure,

– having regard to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC),

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;

– having regard to the Agreement between the Council of Europe and Ukraine on the Establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine,

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;

– having regard to Rule 132(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

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;

A. whereas the Russian Federation has been waging an unprovoked, unjustified and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine since 24 February 2022, in continuation of previous aggression since 2014; whereas it continues to persistently violate the principles of the UN Charter through its aggressive actions against the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and to blatantly and grossly violate international humanitarian law, as established by the Geneva Conventions of 1949;

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;

B. whereas the UN General Assembly, in its resolution of 2 March 2022, immediately qualified the Russian war against Ukraine as an act of aggression in violation of Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, and, in its resolution of 14 November 2022, recognised the need to hold the Russian Federation accountable for its war of aggression and legally and financially responsible for its internationally wrongful acts, including by making reparation for the injury and damage caused;

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;

C. whereas the ICC has been conducting an investigation into the situation in Ukraine since 2 March 2022, and on 17 March 2023 issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Lvova-Belova, so-called Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, for the war crime of unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, followed up by additional arrest warrants against Russian officials issued on 24 June 2024; whereas the EU supports the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine that is being established in the framework of the Council of Europe;

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;

D. whereas, in reaction to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the EU has adopted 17 sanctions packages on Russia with unprecedented scope and continues to adopt sanctions on Russia with a view to definitively undermining its capacity to continue waging its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine; whereas sanctions circumvention, including through Russia’s shadow fleet, and incomplete implementation of sanctions remain a major enabler of Russia’s war of aggression;

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;

E. whereas the EU and its Member States, together with international partners and NATO allies, continue to provide substantial military support to Ukraine in order to assist it in exercising its legitimate right to self-defence against Russia’s aggression under Article 51 of the UN Charter;

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;

F. whereas, despite broad international condemnation of its war of aggression against Ukraine and unprecedented sanctions, the Russian political and military leadership, with the support of its regular army and proxies, continues its illegal war of aggression and has even escalated its war efforts while falsely seeking to create the impression that it is ready to participate in US-led initiatives for peace in Ukraine;

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;

1. Reiterates its condemnation of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and its demands that the Russian Federation immediately, completely and unconditionally cease its attacks against residential areas and civilian infrastructure, terminate all military activities in Ukraine, withdraw all military forces, proxies and military equipment from the entire internationally recognised territory of Ukraine, end forced deportations of Ukrainian civilians, release and return all detained Ukrainians, and permanently cease violating or threatening the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine;

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;

2. Notes that in 2025, Russia has launched over 20 000 drones at Ukraine, or around 3 500 per month, constituting 350 % of the 2024 monthly average; underscores that Russia has killed over 1 050 civilians and injured 4 300 more, constituting clear evidence that it actively targets civilians, as opposed to Ukraine’s defensive actions; recalls the recent attacks on Kyiv and Dnipro, respectively the second deadliest and the deadliest attacks on these cities since the start of Russia’s invasion; underlines that this is in stark contrast to Russia’s claim that it is interested in peace;

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;

3. Reiterates its dismay that, after more than three years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, efforts made so far have not yet been sufficient to end the aggression; calls urgently for the EU, its Member States and their international partners and transatlantic allies to undertake even more effective military, political and diplomatic efforts, and in particular to massively increase their military support for Ukraine in order to definitively stop Russia’s war of aggression and enable Ukraine to liberate all its people, re-establish full control over its entire territory within its internationally recognised borders and deter any further aggression by Russia; underlines that the negative global consequences of any future Russian aggression far outweigh the military and financial commitment needed today to definitively end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and deter further Russian aggression;

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;

4. Calls for the urgent release and return of all detained Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war, and in particular for the safe return of all Ukrainian children forcibly transferred and deported to the Russian Federation; notes the marked difference in the manner in which respective prisoners of war have been treated by Ukraine and Russia, with Ukrainian military personnel having been severely tortured, maltreated and malnourished, in violation of the laws of war and international humanitarian law; urges the Russian federal and local authorities to grant international organisations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and UNICEF access to all Ukrainian children deported to occupied territory or to Russian territory; reiterates its calls for the EU and its Member States to closely cooperate with and support Ukrainian authorities and other international organisations in their efforts to document all missing and deported Ukrainian children, determine their whereabouts and repatriate them in order to promptly reunite them with their parents or legal custodians; reiterates that the deportation of Ukrainian children is a grave violation of international humanitarian law, in particular of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and constitutes a war crime;

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;

5. Notes the unwavering commitment of 26 EU Member States to Ukraine, but calls for the EU and its Member States to substantially enhance the effectiveness and accelerate the delivery of military support to Ukraine in order to enable Ukraine to legitimately defend itself against Russia’s escalating attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure across the country and to put Ukraine into the strongest possible position for negotiations about its future; underlines that Ukraine and its leadership must be empowered to resist and prevent further Russian attacks and reject hasty deals that weaken its security in the medium to long term and risk subjecting Ukraine and other countries, including EU countries, to renewed Russian aggression;

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;

6. Urges all Member States to immediately provide additional military assistance and to engage in joint procurement of additional capabilities, in particular air defence and long-range strike and artillery systems and ammunitions; urges all Member States, in this regard, to devote a significant part of their Security Action for Europe (SAFE) Defence Investment Plans to assistance for Ukraine; urges the Member States and their defence industries to invest in and partner with the Ukrainian defence industry, including through additional investments and by setting up joint ventures, in order to maximise the full potential of its production capabilities to produce critical equipment in the most efficient way, as demonstrated by the ‘Danish Model’; urges the Member States to lift the remaining restrictions on the use of Western weapons systems delivered to Ukraine against military targets on Russian territory, as these targets are used for launching attacks on Ukraine’s population and critical civilian infrastructure;

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;

7. Recalls the bold statements by several EU Heads of State or Government that Russia’s failure to agree to the US-proposed 30-day ceasefire would be met with severely enhanced sanctions; therefore urges the Council, the Commission and the Member States to follow up on their declarations and substantially increase the effectiveness and impact of sanctions on Russia; welcomes the 17th sanctions package of 20 May 2025, but urges the Member States to adopt the next sanctions package without any further delay; reiterates its calls for a swift and complete ban on imports of Russian fossil fuels, temporary measures prior to such a ban, including lowering the oil price cap and a liquefied natural gas price cap, as well as for the adoption of anti-circumvention measures, such as sanctions on non-EU countries and entities that provide Russia with military and dual-use goods and technologies or process Russian fossil fuels in circumvention of sanctions and on those that enable it, such as shadow fleet captains, insurers, insurance brokers and relevant financial service providers;

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;

8. Reminds the Hungarian and Slovak Governments of the principle of sincere cooperation that requires Member States to refrain from any measure that could jeopardise the attainment of the EU’s objectives; urges the Hungarian and Slovak Governments, therefore, to realign their foreign policy with EU positions and principles and to lift their repeated obstruction of EU efforts to strengthen the sanctions on Russia;

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;

9. Emphasises its full support for the ongoing investigation by the Prosecutor of the ICC into the situation in Ukraine based on alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, as well as for the establishment of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression in the framework of the Council of Europe; in this context, expresses its utmost concern about the US sanctions on the ICC, its prosecutors, judges and staff, which undermine all its ongoing investigative and prosecutorial work and constitute a serious attack on the international justice system; calls on the Commission to urgently activate the blocking statute and on the Member States to urgently increase their diplomatic efforts in order to protect and safeguard the ICC as an indispensable cornerstone of the international justice system; expresses its concern that other efforts to document, catalogue, investigate and prosecute Russian war crimes in Ukraine are now affected by funding shortfalls;

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;

10. Reaffirms its commitment to supporting Ukraine’s desire for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine that must be based on full respect for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, the principles of international law, accountability for the war crimes and the crime of aggression, and Russian payments for the massive damage caused in Ukraine and that must effectively exclude any further aggression by Russia; calls urgently for the EU and its Member States to work with like-minded partners to ensure that peace negotiations take place in accordance with the above principles; recognises that peace negotiations will require compromise on both sides; underlines, however, that Russia’s aggression is unprovoked, unjustified and illegal, and that the EU, its Member States and all countries that adhere to the UN Charter must reject any proposals that would further undermine the principles of international law and the rules-based international order;

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;

11. Reiterates its firm conviction that Russia must pay for the massive damage caused in Ukraine and therefore calls for the confiscation of Russian state assets immobilised under EU sanctions and their use to support Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction; underlines its conviction that various legal pathways to do so are available and that lack of action is an inexcusable failure on the part of European governments;

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;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the President, Government and Parliament of Ukraine, and the President, Government and Parliament of the Russian Federation.

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;

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;

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;

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;

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;

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.