Ukrainian civilians greet newly released Ukrainian soldiers in a prisoner exchange with Russia on February 5, 2026. Russia’s detention of Ukrainian civilians, in addition to prisoners of war, is not attracting commensurate international scrutiny, writes Andreas Umland. (Shutterstock/KyivCityUa)

Why Is Russia Imprisoning Ukrainian Civilians?

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Since 2022, Russia has detained thousands of Ukrainian citizens arbitrarily. International scrutiny of this outrage has been minimal.

Since 2022, the mass imprisonment of Ukrainian non-combatants in the occupied territories has remained largely under the radar of international journalism, politics, diplomacy, and academia.

Russia’s war against Ukraine aims to recover control over the territories and populations of the former Czarist and Soviet empires. For the past 12 years, a key Kremlin goal has been the physical capture of Ukrainian citizens and their forced integration into Russian society, state, and army. Russian expansionism in Ukraine has been as much about demography as geography.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has documented “systematic human rights violations against civilians in occupied territories, including arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearances and the denial of the right to a fair trial.” 

Most attention has gone to Russia’s abduction of unaccompanied Ukrainian children—the subject of countless investigations, resolutions, and, recently, a cause for US First Lady Melania Trump. Far less attention goes to the fate of adult civilians in Russian captivity. Thousands of them are held in Russian facilities ranging from cellars and garages to remand centers and regular prisons, both in the occupied territories and in Russia itself.

A minority of Ukrainians under occupation, especially ethnic Russians or highly Russified Ukrainians, accepted annexation. Most, however, have been unenthusiastic about or opposed to their involuntary inclusion in Russia. The Kremlin’s main tool for securing their compliance has been the short- or long-term incarceration of thousands of ordinary citizens.

Few detainees are accused of conventional crimes—and even those cases belong in Ukrainian courts. Many prisoners had voiced disagreement with the war and were convicted under Russia’s “anti-extremist” laws, which forbid criticism or even mention of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Others engaged in non-violent resistance. Some have been arrested at random, on trumped-up charges based on false evidence and extorted confessions.

At first glance, this seems paradoxical. Moscow claims to be “reuniting” lost Russian lands and people. Why, then, would it arrest, deport, and torture their inhabitants by the thousands,........

© The National Interest