Russians may have murdered or tortured to death captive Ukrainian servicemen for transplant harvesting.

Claims are piling up that Russia has been harvesting internal organs from Ukrainian servicemen in captivity. They were murdered or tortured to death intentionally in order to supply the internal black market with transplant organs and then the bodies were returned to their families.

These extraordinary claims emerged at a meeting between representatives of the families of Ukrainian POWs and the Ukrainian ambassador to Türkiye, Vasyl Bodnar, last week. If confirmed officially, Moscow would be officially accused of another crime against humanity.

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The wife of a Mariupol defender, a POW who died in Russian captivity and whose body has been returned to his family, told the ambassador that she and many other families had discovered some organs missing from the bodies they recovered during the exchange of dead with the Russians.

“Today it is already known for sure that we receive the bodies of tortured prisoners of war. We receive not only tortured bodies, but bodies that, unfortunately, are without organs,” Ukrainian national news agency Ukrinform quoted the woman as saying. “This confirms the fact that the black market for organ transplantation in the Russian Federation is working. And, unfortunately, it is working with our prisoners of war.”

She added, “Therefore, this must be said to the whole world in order to stop this crime."

Moscow has declined until now to make public the names of all Ukrainian PoWs, both alive and dead. It is believed that at least 10,000 Ukrainian military and civilians are held in Russian custody, under horrific conditions and inhumane treatment.

Families of Ukrainian PoWs demanding the release of their men. Credit: Getty Images

The return to Ukraine of the bodies of prisoners of war without internal organs may be evidence that they are used in Russia for transplantation. The government in Kyiv has launched an investigation into the matter. 

Türkiye is the mediator in the exchange of PoWs and bodies of diseased prisoners between Ukraine and Russia.

Moscow has denied the claims of organ harvesting from Ukrainian PoWs as well as the accusations of torture and inhumane treatment of its war captives.

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