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Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump's peace effort ignores thousands of Ukrainians still tortured in Russian captivity
When Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna's body was returned from Russian captivity with organs missing to hide evidence of torture, the revelation sent shockwaves around the world. Roshchyna died in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024, but her body was only returned to Ukraine in February and officially identified in was among 16,000 Ukrainian civilians held captive by Russia, according to Ukrainian Geneva Conventions set strict limits on the detention of civilians during wartime and establish clear standards for their humane treatment. Yet, the Ukrainians who have been freed from Russian captivity recount enduring daily beatings, torture, starvation, and denial of proper medical care at the hands of Russian authorities. 'We know of more than 180 prisons in Russia and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine where our POWs (prisoners of war) and civilians are being kept,' Petro Yatsenko, spokesperson for the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, told the Kyiv Independent.'Russian authorities can target anyone (in the occupied territories) no matter their gender, age, or profession.'The fate of thousands of Ukrainians currently in captivity, as well as those living under occupation, remains uncertain amid U.S.-led efforts to end Russia's to a leaked draft published by Reuters, the proposal of a peace deal backed by Ukraine and Europe envisions the release of all POWs, captive civilians, and illegally deported children by the leaked draft backed by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration includes no mention of any prisoner exchange or release of the kind. Trump's plan further reportedly proposes the de facto recognition of Russian occupation of parts of four Ukrainian regions and the de jure recognition of Russia's illegal annexation of Ukrainians under occupation, that means a continued risk of facing persecution, torture, and death. 'One of the most terrible things that war brings is separation... We cannot leave any of our people, any towns and villages under Russian occupation,' President Volodymyr Zelensky said in July 2023. 'Wherever the Russian occupation continues, violence and humiliation of people reign.' Ukrainians who oppose the Russian occupation of their land often end up in Russian captivity, alongside journalists, activists and Yeltsova was a 19-year-old student in her final year of studies in Kherson when Russia captured the city shortly after launching its full-scale invasion in heavy armored vehicles didn't scare Yeltsova, and she continued to rally support for Ukraine's military on social media even under occupation.'I have never for a moment doubted her strength of spirit,' Veronika Denysenko, one of Yeltsova's former professors at Kherson State University, told the Kyiv Independent. As a university student specializing in primary education, patriotism played a major role in Yeltsova's pedagogical development. She approached tasks such as reciting poems, singing Ukrainian songs, and staging folk tales 'with both enthusiasm and creativity,' according to Denysenko. Russian occupation forces came to Yeltsova's student dormitory with an ultimatum in the summer of 2022: cooperate with the occupiers or face eviction, Yeltsova's aunt told the Ukrainian TV show 'Finding Our Own.' Yeltsova relocated from the city to her family home in the village of Balashove on the east bank of the Dnipro River. 'In the chaotic weeks that followed, we — her professors — tried to keep track of our students through Zoom, Viber, Telegram, Instagram,' Denysenko said. 'It was clear that Anya was taking extraordinary risks by continuing to post patriotic poetry and declarations of loyalty to Ukraine on her social media (while still being under occupation).' During a visit to her grandmother in the nearby village of Ahaimany, where she planned to finish her coursework, the Russians found her. The final post Yeltsova shared on Instagram before her abduction was a tribute to Ukraine's liberation of the city of Kherson. 'You're home, dearest!' Yeltsova proclaimed from the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast on Nov. 11, 2022, accompanying the text with a video of locals raising the Ukrainian flag in Kherson's city Yeltsova's aunt told 'Finding Our Own,' Russian occupation authorities arrived in two cars outside her grandmother's house and they claimed during questioning to have found evidence on Yeltsova's phone that she had donated to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 'I love my country,' she said according to her aunt. The Center for Journalistic Investigations reported in April 2023 that Halyna Kostenko, the head of Ahaimany, gave up Yeltsova to Russian authorities. 'From (watching footage of her on Russian state media), it became clear that they were breaking her, and it was impossible to help her.' The General Prosecutor's Office announced in November 2024 that Kostenko is suspected of collaborating with Russian authorities during the occupation. After being taken away with a bag over her head from Ahaimany, Yeltsova was held in the Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 2 in Simferopol, a city in occupied Crimea. Her parents initially struggled to track down where Russian forces had taken her, according to her aunt. In December 2022, Russian state media RIA Novosti released a video featuring Yeltsova, who is described as "a resident of Kherson Oblast." The caption reads that she was apprehended for allegedly providing Russian military coordinates to Ukrainian authorities, a charge that could result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years. A downcast Yeltsova says on the verge of tears in the video that she 'regrets' what they accused her of doing. While Yeltsova continued to post pro-Ukrainian content online from Russian-occupied territory, such as calling for support for Ukraine's military, Russian authorities did not present any evidence in court to prove that she was actually guilty of espionage. 'From (watching footage of her on Russian state media), it became clear that they were breaking her, and it was impossible to help her. In that video, she was hardly recognizable, only her eyes were the same…' Denysenko said. 'As a mother, I cried bitterly (when I learned of her abduction) and to this day, I worry deeply for her fate and pray for her.' While tried in a court in Russian-occupied Chonhar in Kherson Oblast, Yeltsova was sentenced in February 2025 to 10 years in a penal colony. Fabricated criminal cases are a common tool used by the Russian occupation authorities to instill fear in the general population and make examples out of those who oppose the occupation. However, even the Ukrainians who are not openly resisting the occupation can become a target. That's what happened to 26-year-old Iryna Navalna. After fleeing the siege of Mariupol, Donetsk Oblast, with her mother in May 2022, Navalna decided later that August — against her mother's wishes — to temporarily return to the already occupied city to collect her belongings and spend time with her elderly grandmother who had refused to leave. During that trip, Navalna was arrested by Russian occupation forces and accused of plotting to bomb a government building during the Kremlin's staged referendum to illegally annex Donetsk and three other Ukrainian oblasts. "(The police in Russian-occupied Mariupol) sat me down on a chair and started hitting me on the head, on the legs — they shocked my thigh with a stun gun." Navalna was sentenced on Oct. 7, 2024 to eight years in prison by a court in Rostov-on-Don on terrorism charges. Russian authorities relied on witness testimonies to 'prove' that she actually took part in plotting to commit a terrorist act, plus Navalna's own 'confession,' which she latertold the court was made under torture. '(The police in Russian-occupied Mariupol) sat me down on a chair and started hitting me on the head, on the legs — they shocked my thigh with a stun gun. They told me I wouldn't be released immediately, but if I confessed, I'd be in a prisoner exchange with Ukraine sooner and could go home to my mom,' Navalna told a court in Russia's Rostov-on-Don in the summer of 2024. 'They said they knew where my mother and grandmother lived. In the end, I agreed to falsely confess in order to protect my life and the lives of my loved ones.' Russian state-controlled media has claimed that Navalna acted on the orders of Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) and was promised Hr 100,000 ($2,400) to plant an explosive device — a claim that Navalna has repeatedly denied. Navalna, as well as members of her family, have gone on record saying that several factors likely contributed to her becoming a target of the Russian occupation authorities after her return to Mariupol — among them, her stepfather being a Ukrainian soldier who took part in the defense of Azovstal, an internship at the local police station prior to the full-scale invasion, and, of course, her last name. 'They mocked her and fixated on the name: 'Ah, Navalna — what are you, (late Russian opposition leader Alexei) Navalny's illegitimate daughter or something?' They lined her up against a wall and held a gun to her head,' Oleksandra Stolyar, Navalna's mother, told the independent Russian outlet Mediazona in October, recalling their ordeal at a Russian filtration camp after they fled Mariupol. In a Facebook post from early 2023, Russian journalist and human rights advocate Olga Romanova shared information from recently freed Ukrainian female prisoners of war who had encountered Navalna at the pre-trial detention center in occupied Donetsk, shedding light on Navalna's condition. 'The female POWs met Ira frightened and badly beaten, covered in deep bruises. She said she was beaten during interrogations, and the guards beat her too. Just because they can,' Romanova wrote. Twenty-one women, including Navalna, were confined to a cell designed for just 10 people, according to the POWs. They slept two to a bed, and from wake-up to lights out — 16 hours in total — sitting was forbidden. Anyone caught sitting meant all of them women were dragged into the corridor and brutally beaten. The Geneva Conventions stipulate that civilians in wartime captivity must be safeguarded not only from violence and persecution but also exploitation. However, Navalna is one of the many Ukrainians who have been forced into participating in Russian propaganda videos that are meant not only to brainwash the Russian public but to humiliate and intimidate Ukrainian prisoners. In 2023, Russian state media NTV aired the propaganda film titled "I Am Zelensky's Scum: Ladies Who Bring Death Betray Their Leader' featuring Navalna and other women accused by the Russian state of committing terrorist acts on behalf of Ukraine. It is clearly visible in the scenes featuring Navalna that her imprisonment has taken a physical and psychological toll on her. The scornful voiceover, set against dramatic background music, refers to her as "the future terrorist," twisting her words about her upbringing in an attempt to portray her as a mentally unstable young woman and therefore somehow a "prime candidate" for recruitment by Ukrainian security services. Discussions about Ukraine's occupied territories often wrongly assume that the Ukrainians who remain there are loyal to Russia. In truth, many Ukrainians find themselves under occupation for personal reasons — in Navalna's case, to be with her grandmother — and it doesn't mean they support Russian rule. False narratives about Ukrainians in occupied territories — frequently peddled by pro-Russian propagandists — have now also been amplified by a top U.S. official. "(Ukraine's occupied regions) are Russian-speaking, and there have been referendums where the overwhelming majority of the people have indicated that they want to be under Russian rule," Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff told American right-wing commentator and conspiracy theorist Tucker Carlson in March. Witkoff has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on several occasions as part of Washington's peace effort. Ukraine has been pushing for any peace plan to include not only the release of POWs and the return of tens of thousands of children abducted by Russia, but also the release of civilians in Russian captivity, as tens of thousands of innocent people could otherwise face long-term suffering and abuse, with no clear path to returning home — especially those indicted by Russian courts on fabricated criminal charges. The return of Ukrainians from Russian captivity remains a multinational effort, but Ukrainian authorities acknowledge that the absence of strong U.S. support, particularly in the context of the ongoing push for peace, could further complicate the situation. "It is basements, torture, electric shock, rape with rubber truncheons.' 'Of course, we face more challenges now, such as when the U.S. ceased its (financial) support of very important programs to look for (Ukrainian) children kidnapped by Russia,' Yatsenko said. At the same time, Russia is employing a range of obstructive tactics to evade accountability for the wellbeing of the thousands of civilians in Ukrainian captivity. 'Conditions in Russian places of detention cannot be checked by international humanitarian organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross,' Yatsenko explained. 'Unfortunately, the Russians have still not created special camps for prisoners where their rights are guaranteed, as dictated by the Geneva Conventions.' The frustration felt by many Ukrainians over the absence of a strong, unequivocal response from the U.S. to Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories and the brutal treatment of prisoners is deepened by the testimonies of those who have endured these abuses firsthand, such as Stanislav Aseyev, a journalist who spent nearly three years in the infamous Izolyatsia prison in Russian-occupied Donetsk in 2017-2019. 'Occupied Crimea is not Alsace and Lorraine, which we can talk about later. It is basements, torture, electric shock, rape with rubber truncheons,' Aseyev wrote on X on April 23. 'Throw away your calculator and remember that we are not just talking about square kilometers, but about people.' Hey there, it's Kate Tsurkan, thanks for reading my latest interview. This was honestly one of the most difficult articles for me to write as I couldn't stop thinking for days afterward about Anna Yeltsova and Iryna Navalna. What is happening to Ukrainian civilians in Russian prisons is the stuff of nightmares, and the situation will only get worse if Russia isn't stopped. While this was a difficult read, I hope it made you understand how dire the situation truly is. It you appreciate reading about this sort of thing, Read also: Investigation: Russians carry out systemic terror in occupied part of Kherson Oblast We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump spares Russia from tariffs, but oil price plunge could wreck war economy regardless
U.S. President Donald Trump has inadvertently hit Russia's economy after his "Liberation Day" tariffs caused oil prices to drop drastically on April 7, with potentially massive ramifications for the Kremlin's ability to fund its ongoing war in Ukraine. Russia has so far failed to agree to a full ceasefire, and while Trump has been vocal about being "pissed off" and "very angry" with the Kremlin, he is yet to take any concrete action to force Russia to end its full-scale invasion. He has multiple forms of leverage he could use against the Kremlin — increasing military aid to Ukraine, strengthening the enforcement of existing sanctions, or imposing additional tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil. So far, he has not used any of it, but his "Liberation Day" tariffs imposed on nearly every country in the world — but notably not Russia — may end up forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to reconsider his options — and the Kremlin is already panicking. Russia's economy is heavily dependent on oil revenues, which make up around 30% of its total state budget. As the war in Ukraine has dragged on, the Kremlin has massively increased defense spending, and 32% of the 2025 budget expenditure was allocated to the military and its war machine in Ukraine. But there's an issue — when drawing up the 2025 budget, the Kremlin budgeted for an oil price of $70 per barrel. But on April 7, the price of Russian Urals oil tumbled to a 21-month low of $51.54 per barrel on the Baltic port of Primorsk, according to Argus Media. "If the average price is lower (than $70 per barrel) throughout the year, Russia will have less money to earn and spend, especially to cover growing expenses connected to illegal actions against Ukraine," Wojciech Jakobik, a Warsaw-based energy analyst, told the Kyiv Independent."Russia's National Wealth Fund would be depleted faster, and Russia would need a truce quicker," he added. Ukraine has long been targeting Russian oil assets with drones in an attempt to deplete the Kremlin's oil revenue, but Trump has done a more effective job in recent days by dragging the world into economic uncertainty. Trump's 34% tariffs on China caused Beijing to retaliate with its own 34% tariffs on American goods. The White House responded on April 7 by saying it would add an additional 50% tariff to Chinese goods on top of last week's 34% tariff and the previous 20% tariff, bringing the total to over 100%. The EU, which was slapped with 20% tariffs on its goods, has also threatened retaliation. Trump's actions sparked concerns of a global recession, leading global oil prices to plunge in anticipation of a slowdown in economic activity. So while Russia was spared the imposition of tariffs, it's now suffering heavily due to the global ramifications of the unfolding global trade war. The price drop ignited panic in Moscow, and the Kremlin is monitoring the "extremely turbulent, tense" situation, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Interfax on April 7. "Our economic authorities are monitoring this situation very closely and, of course, are doing and will do everything necessary to minimize the consequences of this international economic storm for our economy," he added. Peskov laid the blame squarely on Trump's tariffs but there are other factors contributing to the drop in oil revenue for Russia. Russian fossil fuel revenues were declining even before the tariffs, partly due to American and British sanctions in January which caused "shadow fleet" shipments to drop by 21% in February, the Center for Research on Energy and Clear Air (CREA) reported. The sanctions have also lowered demand for Russian crude in China and India — Moscow's main markets. On top of this, Trump's tariffs are likely to hurt China's economy in particular and consequently, its oil demand. "Since the start of the war with Ukraine, Russia has become significantly dependent on China. Therefore, it's more vulnerable to the health of the Chinese economy," Lilit Gevorgyan, associate director of economics at S&P Global Market Intelligence, told the Kyiv Independent. Additionally, the OPEC+ oil cartel, of which Russia is a member, has recently unwound restrictions on oil production faster than expected, John Gawthrop, editor at Argus Eurasia Energy, told the Kyiv Independent. Trump previously said Russia's war could end "immediately" if OPEC+ lowered oil prices. The cartel, consisting of 12 countries, accounts for 40% of the global oil production and 60% of global oil pledged to increase oil production by 411,000 barrels per day instead of the expected 140,000 per day, starting next month. This will push down prices as there is more oil on the market. "There's massive uncertainty about what's going on in the global economy and you've also got more oil coming out into the market. It creates the perfect storm," Gawthrop said. Banks have cut forecasts for Brent crude, the global benchmark, to as low as $60 per barrel. As recently as late March, Brent prices reached $72.52 a barrel. Read also: As Ukraine, Russia agree to ceasefire at sea, Moscow's battered Black Sea Fleet is set to get a reprieve It doesn't look good for Russia — reduced income from energy would add additional pressure to its already strained economy. Moscow is balancing funding living standards, a war, and macroeconomic stability. Sanctions alone haven't yet toppled its economy largely due to the Russian energy sector raking in cash. Russia's state budget earned around $100 billion from crude exports alone in 2024, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence."If you take out a big chunk of revenue that had been expected, it becomes harder to maintain that already precarious balance. Something may have to give," Gawthrop said. Russia could cut social spending and investment activities to fund its war machine, but continued prices below $70 per barrel could affect its ability to do so in the longer term, Jakobik said. And if oil prices fall even further, it could force Moscow into seeking a truce with Ukraine quicker, he added. Banks don't expect Brent prices to come back this year or next. Goldman Sachs forecast Brent prices would be $62 per barrel by December 2025 and $55 by December 2026, Reuters reported. With OPEC+ increasing oil production, it could push down prices even more. If the cartel goes further into a "price war," it runs the risk of dragging global oil prices below $60 per barrel, which will bring Russian oil down too, Jakobik said. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Riyadh faced off with Moscow, drastically increasing oil production and causing prices to drop below sustainable levels for producers. The Russian ruble fell 7% against the dollar as a result. Another face-off between Moscow and Riyadh is unlikely as Russia is complying more with OPEC+ regulation, Gawthrop said. But Kazakhstan has ramped up production recently, which could cause prices to fall to a painful level for Russia. "If oil prices fall to a level that is deemed to be too uncomfortable, OPEC+ will probably rein in production again. Although when we talk about uncomfortable price levels, the Saudis can take much more pain in terms of low oil prices than Russia can," Gawthrop is dragging the world into another unprecedented economic catastrophe that could mirror the 2008 financial crash or pandemic, Gawthrop added. Unless the U.S. reverses its tariff policy, he doesn't expect the market to rebound anytime soon. Read also: Putin issued a decree. Now, millions of Ukrainians face an impossible decision We've been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent.
