'Torment of hell': Ukrainian medic describes Russian torture to US Congress

Yuliia Paievska and her care of Mariupol’s wounded received global attention after her bodycam footage was shared with reporters

Ukrainian medic Yuliia Paievska appears before US Congress on the Helsinki Commission on Thursday, on Capitol Hill in Washington. AP

Senator Ben Cardin shakes hands with Ms Paievska, a Ukrainian veteran and volunteer paramedic. Getty / AFP

Dr Hanna Hopko, a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and Ms Paievska testify on Capitol Hill in Washington. Getty / AFP

The witnesses discussed Russian war crimes and atrocities committed in Ukraine since the start of the war. Getty / AFP

Ms Paievska used a body camera to record her work in Mariupol while the port city was under Russian siege, and was later captured by Russian troops. Yuliia Paievska / AP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on June 17 that Russia had freed Ms Paievska. Invictus Games Team Ukraine / AP

Bodycam footage shows Ms Paievska's team's frantic efforts to bring people back from the brink of death. Yuliia Paievska / AP

Ms Paievska assists as a serviceman is brought in on a stretcher. Yuliia Paievska / AP

Two wounded Russian soldiers arrive at a hospital to be treated on March 10, in Mariupol, Ukraine, two weeks after Russia invaded. Yuliia Paievska / AP

Ms Paievska was a member of the Ukraine Invictus Games team for military veterans, where she was set to compete in archery and swimming. Invictus Games Team Ukraine / AP

A volunteer Ukrainian medic detained in the besieged port city of Mariupol told the US Congress on Thursday of comforting fellow detainees as many died during her three months of captivity, cradling and consoling them as best she could, as prisoners succumbed to Russian torture and untreated wounds.

Yuliia Paievska, who was captured by pro-Russian forces in Mariupol in March and held at shifting locations in Russian-allied territory in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, spoke to members of Congress with the Commission on Security and Co-operation in Europe, better known as the Helsinki Commission, a US government agency created in part to promote international compliance with human rights.

Her accounts on Thursday were the most she has detailed publicly about her treatment in captivity in what Ukrainians and international rights groups say are widespread detentions of both civilians and soldiers by Russian forces.

Ms Paievska and her care of Mariupol’s wounded received global attention after her bodycam footage was provided to The Associated Press.

“Do you know why we do this to you?” a Russian asked Ms Paievska as he tortured her, she told the commission.

“Because you can," she had answered.

Searing descriptions of the suffering of detainees poured out during her testimony. A 7-year-old boy died in her lap because she had none of the medical gear she needed to treat him, she said.

Ukrainian firefighters at a thermal power plant damaged by a Russian missile strike, in Kharkiv. Reuters

Rescuers in Kharkiv extinguish a fire after a rocket strike. EPA

Ukrainian soldiers and local officials are greeted by residents with hugs and handshakes in the village of Kozacha. Reuters

The charred remains of a Russian tank in territory retaken by Ukraine in the Kharkiv region. AP

Half-submerged Russian tanks amid the Ukrainian counter-offensive in Kharkiv. AFP

A Russian poster is pulled from a billboard to reveal a poem by Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko in Balakliia, Kharkiv. Reuters

Ukrainian troops in the recently retaken settlement of Vasylenkove. Reuters

Charred armoured cars litter the road in Balakliia. AFP

A burnt-out tank in Kharkiv region. AFP

Ukrainian flags are placed on statues in a square in Balakliia. AFP

Shell holes pepper the Misto entertainment complex in Kharkiv. EPA

Fixing windows in the damaged Misto complex. EPA

Torture sessions usually began with their captors forcing the Ukrainian prisoners to remove their clothes before the Russians set to torturing them she said.

The result was some “prisoners in cells screaming for weeks, and then dying from the torture without any medical help”, she said.

Ms Paievska watches as siblings are brought to hospital after their parents were killed in Russian shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine. The boy later died. Photo: Yuliia Paievska / AP

“Then in this torment of hell, the only things they feel before death is abuse and additional beating.”

She continued, recounting the toll among the imprisoned Ukrainians.

“My friend whose eyes I closed before his body cooled down. Another friend. And another. Another.”

Ms Paievska said she was taken into custody after being stopped in a routine document check. She was one of thousands of Ukrainians believed to have been taken prisoner by Russian forces.

Mariupol’s mayor said that 10,000 people from his city alone disappeared during what was the months-long Russian siege of that city.

The Geneva Conventions single out medics, both military and civilian, for protection “in all circumstance”. Benjamin L Cardin, a Maryland Democratic senator and co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission, underscored that the conditions she described for civilian and military detainees violated international law.

Joe Wilson, a Republican representative from South Carolina, called Russian President Vladimir Putin a war criminal.

“It is critical that the world hear the stories of those who endured the worst under captivity,” Mr Wilson said. “Evidence is essential to prosecution of war crimes.”

Ukrainians who recently arrived to Mexico fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland wait for their turn to try to get into the US near the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border, in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing war arrive to Mexico to cross into the US. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing war arrive to Mexico to cross into the US. Reuters

A Ukrainian man holds a baby at US-Mexican border as he waits to cross into the US. Reuters

Over 600 Ukrainians have assembled at Mexico's border with the US. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland wait for a US Customs and Border Protection agent before passing through a checkpoint to enter the US after authorities granted permission to remain in the country until 2023, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland at the US-Mexico border. Reuters

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion were granted permission by the Biden administration to remain in the country until 2023. Reuters

The number of Ukrainians and Russians encountered at the Us-Mexico border has already surpassed the previous two years, with the most significant uptick happening in the last six months, as Russia's threats against Ukraine increased. Bloomberg

Ukrainian refugees Sasha Alexandra and Olena fled their city of Dnipro, Ukraine earlier this month and travelled to Germany before flying to Mexico. Getty Images / AFP

Russian asylum seekers Nastya, Artem and their son Samuil sit outside the San Ysidro Port of Entry after not being allowed to cross into the US to seek asylum on March 21, 2022 in Tijuana, Mexico. The family left Russia after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began due to religious persecution. Getty Images / AFP

A Russian and a Ukrainian embrace each other as Russians wait for humanitarian visas, amid the ongoing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US -Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

A Russian and a Ukrainian embracing at the San Ysidro Port of Entry of the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico. Reuters

Russian and Ukrainian families are staying in a makeshift camp next to the San Ysidro Garita, in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico. EPA

Ukrainians and Russians have been waiting side-by-side to enter the US from the Mexico border. AP

About three dozen would-be asylum seekers from Russia found themselves blocked from entering the US while a group of Ukrainians flashed passports and were escorted across the border. AP

Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their homeland pass through a checkpoint to enter the US after authorities granted permission to remain in the country until 2023. Reuters

Before she was captured, Ms Paievska had recorded more than 256 gigabytes of harrowing bodycam footage showing her team’s efforts to save the wounded in the cut-off city. She got the footage to AP journalists, the last international team in Mariupol, on a tiny data card.

The journalists fled the city on March 15 with the card embedded inside a tampon, carrying it through 15 Russian checkpoints. The next day, Ms Paievska was taken by pro-Russia forces.

Members of Congress played the AP video of her footage on Thursday.

She said the AP report that showed her caring for Russian and Ukrainian soldiers alike, along with civilians of Mariupol, was critical to her release in a prisoner exchange.

Ms Paievska previously had declined to speak in detail to journalists about conditions in detention, only describing it, broadly, as hell. She swallowed heavily at times on Thursday while testifying.

Ukraine’s government says it has documented about 34,000 Russian war crimes since the conflict began in February. The International Criminal Court and 14 European Union member nations have also launched investigations.

A poster for Ms Paievska after she was captured by Russian forces. PA

The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says it has documented that prisoners of war in Russian custody have suffered torture and ill-treatment, as well as insufficient food, water, health care and sanitation.

Russia has not responded to the allegations. Both the UN and the International Red Cross say they have been denied access to prisoners.

Ms Paievska, who said she suffered headaches during her detention as the result of a concussion from an earlier explosion, told Congress she had asked her captors to let her call her husband, to let him know what had happened to her.

“They said, ‘You have seen too many American movies. There will be no phone call,’” she recounted.

Her tormentors during her detention would sometimes urge her to kill herself, she said.

“I said, ‘No. I will see what happens tomorrow.'”

An elderly couple stands near a damaged school in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine. EPA

At least one person was killed after shelling hit the school, the Ukrainian State Emergency Service said. EPA

A woman walks past a destroyed market near a railway station in Donetsk. Reuters

Municipal workers clean a street in Donetsk. Reuters

A man passes destroyed buildings in the Ukrainian town of Siversk. AFP

A destroyed school in Siversk. AFP

A Ukrainian serviceman passes by destroyed buildings in Siversk. AFP

A woman's home is repaired by volunteers after being destroyed by shelling in the village of Zalissya. AFP

People fill up water canisters in Mykolaiv, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

Grain fields burn on the outskirts of Kurakhove, Donetsk Oblast, eastern Ukraine. AP Photo

The mother of Ukrainian serviceman Abdulkarim Gulamov, who was killed in a fight against Russian troops in Kherson, attends his funeral in Kyiv. Reuters

People carry pictures of Mr Gulamov at the funeral. Reuters

Ukrainian service members fire a shell from a M777 Howitzer in Kharkiv. Reuters

A man walks in front of a damaged school after a missile strike hit the city of Kramatorsk. EPA

A cyclist rides past burnt cars after a Russian rocket strike in Kharkiv. AFP

Rescuers and servicemen work at a school building damaged by a Russian military strike in Kramatorsk. Reuters

Sasha, 12, a refugee from Ukraine at the humanitarian aid centre set up at the Global Expo exhibition hall in Warsaw, Poland. AFP

Maksym and Andrii, 11-year-old boys, play with plastic guns at a self-made checkpoint along a motorway in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. AP

A Ukrainian soldier nicknamed 'Oakland' guards his position at the front line in the Kharkiv region. AP

Ukrainians look at destroyed Russian military equipment at an outdoor exhibition near the Church of the Three Saints in Kyiv. AFP

A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) militia sits in a makeshift bunker near Avdiivka, in the Donbas region of Ukraine. EPA

A DPR militia member monitors a section of the road near Avdiivka. EPA

Ukrainians pass a heavily damaged shopping mall in the city of Kherson. AFP

The rubble of a house in Moshchun village, about 20 kilometres outside Kyiv. EPA

A resident helps a firefighter put out a fire after an air strike in the town of Bakhmut, in the breakaway enclave of Donetsk. AFP

A woman surveys the devastation caused by an air strike in Bakhmut. AFP

Part of a projectile fire by a rocket launcher lies embedded in a wheat field in Ukraine's Kharkiv region. AFP

Members of the public look at a Ukrainian tank destroyed in a Russian attack, in Hostomel, north-west of Kyiv. EPA

Burnt out cars destroyed in Russian attacks are piled up in Hostomel. EPA

Jill Biden, US first lady, left, and US President Joe Biden welcome the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, to the White House. EPA

Miami District Two commissioner Ken Russell, left, and Miami police chief Manuel Morales with weapons collected in the Guns 4 Ukraine initiative, at Miami City Hall in Florida. Guns bought back by Miami will be delivered to sister city Irpin, near Kyiv. EPA

A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to a Grad BM-21 multiple rocket launcher at the front line in Donbas, eastern Ukraine. AFP

A woman walks her dog in front of a block of flats hit by shelling in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. EPA

A Kramatorsk resident peers out of a window lined with tape to reduce the impact of shattering glass. EPA

The damaged windows of an apartment, after shells hit a residential area in Kramatorsk. EPA

Rescuers working on a residential building partially destroyed by missile strike in Bashtanka, Mykolaiv as the Russian war in Ukraine continues. AFP

An Ukrainian infantry fighting vehicle lies by the roadside, having been destroyed by Russian forces in Ukraine. AFP