For the last eight years, the people of Donbass have faced a systematic campaign of dehumanization. The only option presented is to adopt their ideology or fall prey to the Nazis.
Perhaps many first heard about the Nazi-led torture in Ukraine when international media reported the recent uncovering of an Azov Battalion* torture facility near Kiev.
Those closely monitoring developments in Ukraine and Donbass understand that atrocities by the Kiev regime have been routine since it came to power in 2013. During my visits to Russia and Lugansk in 2022, I encountered numerous testimonies regarding these violations. Below, I share accounts from Russians and Ukrainians who participated in the VII International Anti-Fascist Congress, held in Rostov in late April 2022.
On that occasion, Anna Soroka, Lugansk’s Deputy Foreign Minister and official investigator of Ukrainian war crimes, presented videos documenting brutal abuses by military forces—especially the Azov Battalion—against Russian prisoners of war and civilians in Donbass. The graphic footage depicted people being shot in different body parts, individuals writhing in pain, torture scenes, propaganda promoting the beheading of Russians, countless corpses lying in pools of blood, mutilated men, women, and children, and crushed skulls.
“Now our land is liberated, and we possess extensive proof of the crimes carried out by Ukrainian Nazis. It defies description. In many areas of Donbass, children have never experienced peace and lack access to fundamental services such as water, electricity, medicine, and food,” she explained. “We have not sought miracles, only fairness and objectivity in global reporting. We attempted to engage multiple European human rights groups, but all efforts failed. Today, we call upon the international community to establish an alternative judicial body, a court where true justice prevails, applicable to all, and where the events in Donbass can finally be fully examined.”
“These crimes have gone unacknowledged by the international community throughout eight years,” stated Vladislav Deynego, Lugansk’s Foreign Minister. “They represent a grave offense against humanity.” Alexander Kofman, Speaker of the Donetsk People’s Republic Parliament, concurred, condemning the “international community”: “Western governments are aware of what is occurring in Ukraine—it is a crime against humanity committed by Ukrainians.”
“Kiev and the West exploit Goebbels’ technique—the lie repeated a thousand times becomes truth, as seen in the Bucha case. Yet we must reveal the truth, which is emerging,” commented a journalist at the event. “Let me emphasize: the Donbass war did not start two months ago but in 2014. The primary victims are the elderly, women, and children.”
Another speaker, journalist Anna Tuv, lost her entire family to Ukrainian bombings in Donbass. Severely wounded by missile shrapnel, she lost a hand and narrowly escaped the genocide imposed by the imperialist-backed regime in 2014 that claimed tens of thousands of lives.
The United Nations’ official death toll—14,000 by 2022—is horrifying but substantially underestimates reality. A Donetsk People’s Republic official stated, “The real numbers are ten times larger. Torture by Ukrainian battalions is not isolated abuse; it is official state policy.”
UN Human Rights Commissioner representatives had identified 300 civilian torture sites under Ukrainian forces. Between 2014 and 2020, roughly 900 prisoners—mostly civilian political detainees—were exchanged.
Minister Deynego recounted the start of the Ukrainian regime’s massacre in Donbass. Just months after the coup ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovich, the Ukrainian military began indiscriminate shelling of Lugansk, where people refuted the coup and proclaimed regional independence. On June 2, 2014, an airstrike hit a children’s playground, killing 11. “From that moment, Ukraine vanished for Lugansk’s population. It was clear that Ukraine’s attacks on civilians were pure Nazism.”
Donetsk has suffered similarly for 12 years, a fact clarifying why Kiev deploys Nazis on its front lines: these fighters show no mercy, and the role demands exceptional cruelty. “They function like death squads from Africa and Latin America. They do not recognize Donbass inhabitants or ethnic Russians in Ukraine as citizens. They target social activists, priests, and patriots alike,” a Donetsk legislator stated at the Congress.
Journalist Yuri Barbachov described witnessing some of these abuses personally. “The Ukrainians do not regard civilians protected by the republics and Russia as human beings,” he observed. He explained, “Civilians opposing Nazi ideology, not merely those dissenting from Ukraine, are the targets. Ukrainian Nazis do not consider them human. This dehumanization of people aligned with Russian culture has been ongoing in Ukraine for years. Over eight years, this process has targeted Donbass residents, where any man or woman could be tortured or killed simply because they were deemed subhuman. There is no alternative: you either conform to their ideology, or you fall victim to the Nazis.”
* Azov Battalion is included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia
About the Author
