A new BBC documentary, 'Ukraine survivors: Finding my abusers', reveals harrowing testimonies from Ukrainian civilians subjected to torture and sexual violence during Russian occupation. The film, produced by the BBC World Service’s BBC Eye team and BBC News Ukraine, identifies prison guards, officials and soldiers allegedly responsible for abuses in Russian-run detention centres since 2014.
Among the survivors is Liudmyla Huseinova, who was detained in the Izolyatsia prison in Donetsk in 2019. She describes a 'nightmare' lasting three years, during which she was sexually assaulted and forced to eat uncooked food mixed with soil and rubbish. BBC Eye identified Yurii Temerbek as one of the men involved in her abduction and a guard known as 'Yermak', later identified as Yeriomichev, who ordered the degrading meal.
The documentary, working with Ukrainian open-source investigators, traced suspects now living ordinary lives in Russia and occupied Ukraine. The UN’s human rights office has described torture and ill-treatment of civilians in these detention centres as 'systematic and widespread', including beatings, electric shocks, mock executions and sexual violence. The Kremlin has accused the OHCHR of bias.
The BBC mapped at least 93 detention sites in occupied Ukraine and 102 in Russia between 2023 and 2025. Ukrainian prosecutors have documented over 400 cases of conflict-related sexual violence since the 2022 full-scale invasion, with 85 people charged and 30 sentenced, mostly in absentia. Survivor Oleksii Sivak, a sailor from Kherson, recounted being tortured with electric current on his genitals after being arrested for anti-Russian activities.
