Ukrainian prisoners from the Makiivka prison are being transported to Russia
All inmates serving sentences at Colony No. 32 in the temporarily occupied city of Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast, are scheduled to be transferred to prisons on Russian territory. Inmates who are Ukrainian citizens will be transferred first.
The first six prisoners (one civilian and five Ukrainian military personnel, convicted by the occupiers on serious charges—extremism, terrorism, and espionage—and sentenced to 10–17 years) were already transferred in August.
Currently, another 24 Ukrainian civilians, who were unlawfully convicted under the same charges to long prison terms, are being prepared for transfer.
In total, according to the publication, more than 30 Ukrainian prisoners are being transferred to Russia. Many of them have been held captive by the occupiers since 2017–2019.
It is noted that among those being transferred are some who require constant medical supervision.
Some of the convicts could have been released in just a year or two, but after being transferred to Russia, the release process may be delayed.
What frightens those being transported and their loved ones the most is the uncertainty—the prisoners are not told where they are being sent.
Of the six people who have already been transferred, only one has reported in: he stated that he is currently in a pretrial detention center in Krasnoyarsk and that this is not the final destination of his transfer. The whereabouts of the remaining detainees remain unknown.
Officially, the reason given for the transfer from the Makiivka penal colony is the inability to provide adequate conditions of detention, specifically water supply and coal for heating.
However, the publication believes there may be another reason—an economic one. It suggests that the number of penal colonies in Russia itself is decreasing because some of the convicts are being sent to the front lines, from which they do not return.
As a result, prison staff are left without jobs. Therefore, the publication speculates that this transfer of prisoners from the temporarily occupied territories to Russia may be an attempt to save some Russian prisons from closure.
According to “Novosti Donbassa,” after the exchange on August 14, 2025, there were still more than 35 prisoners who are Ukrainian citizens (including 5 military personnel) remaining at Makiyivka Prison No. 32.
The relatives of these individuals fear that those transferred to Russia may be placed in a zone with a “special” detention regime—that is, one even harsher than the “strict” regime.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) stated that for the past two years it has not had unrestricted access to Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories.
As of February 2025, it was reported that there are over 180 penal colonies in Russia where Ukrainians are being held. However, Red Cross representatives are allowed access to only some of them.
Moreover, the Russians show the international organization only those prisoners who are in relatively good condition, while hiding sick and exhausted Ukrainian prisoners from the ICRC.
Source: the regional publication “Donbas News.”
Russia sentenced a laundry worker who had worked in Azov to five years in prison.
In Ukraine, charges were filed against Russian prison guards who tortured Ukrainians.
Earlier, the National Police of Ukraine identified one of the direct perpetrators of the torture of a Ukrainian civilian in occupied Simferopol. The man was illegally detained for over eight months in Pretrial Detention Center No. 2, where he was systematically beaten, humiliated because of his nationality, and tortured with stun guns.
Earlier, in occupied Crimea, a local resident was fined 30,000 rubles for a sympathetic comment regarding the death of a Ukrainian serviceman.
