A former Russian military officer has alleged that Ukrainian men were threatened with rape and shot during violent interrogations.
The most senior officer to speak publicly, Konstantin Yefremov, revealed that Russia now views him as a traitor and defector.
At one location in southern Ukraine, he reported that “interrogations and torture persisted for approximately one week.”
Every day, at night, and occasionally twice a day.
Mr. Yefremov repeatedly attempted to resign from the army but was ultimately discharged for refusing to return to Ukraine. Now, he has escaped Russia.
Using images and military documents provided by Mr. Yefremov, he was in Ukraine during the early stages of the conflict, specifically in the Zaporizhzhia area and the city of Melitopol.
The visage of Konstantin Yefremov appears on my computer screen, and we begin speaking. He has an interesting tale to tell. He was previously a Russian army officer.
Our men subjected Ukrainians to torture
The former lieutenant has consented to tell me about the crimes he claims to have witnessed in Ukraine, including torture and mistreatment of Ukrainian captives, during his deployment there last year. He would detail his comrades’ theft of captured Ukrainian territory and savage questioning sessions supervised by a Russian colonel in which men were threatened with rape and shot.
Mr. Yefremov claims he arrived in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula captured by Russia nine years prior, on 10 February 2022. He commanded a demining unit of the 42nd Motorised Rifle Division and was based in Chechnya, in the North Caucasus of Russia. According to him, he and his comrades were sent to participate in “military drills.”
No one at the time believed there would be a war. Everyone believed this to be a drill. I’m certain that not even top officers knew.”
I was afraid of giving up.
Mr. Yefremov recalls observing Russian soldiers affixing identity tags to their uniforms and painting the letter “Z” on military equipment and vehicles. In a matter of days, “Z” became the symbol of the Kremlin’s “secret military operation.”
Mr. Yefremov asserts he had no interest in it.
“I chose to resign. I approached my commander to explain my viewpoint. He led me to a senior commander who accused me of being a traitor and coward.
“I surrendered my firearm, boarded a taxi, and fled. I desired to return to my base in Chechnya and formally resign. Then, my comrades called me with an alert.
A colonel threatened to imprison me for up to ten years for desertion, and he informed the police.
Mr. Yefremov claims that he contacted a military attorney, who urged him to turn back.
“I now see I should have disregarded that and continued driving,” he says. “However, I was scared of being incarcerated.”
He returned to rejoin his comrades.
Mr. Yefremov says that he opposes war. He assures me that he did not take part in Russia’s takeover of Crimea, nor did he fight in eastern Ukraine when the Donbas war broke out nine years ago.
In 2014, Russia was accused of not only organizing a separatist movement in the region, but also of sending its troops. Additionally, Konstantin informs me that he has not participated in Russia’s military campaign in Syria.
“I had been active in mine clearing in Chechnya, a region that had witnessed two wars, for the past three years. I believe the people have benefited from the work I’ve done there.”
The theft of bicycles and lawnmowers
Mr. Yefremov was temporarily placed in command of a rifle platoon. Three days after the Russian invasion, on February 27, he and his men were reportedly told to withdraw north from controlled Crimea. They were on their way to Melitopol.
The following ten days were spent at a captured airfield by Russian forces. He narrates the plundering he saw.
“Soldiers and officers seized anything available. They scaled the aircraft and traversed all of the structures. A soldier removed a lawnmower. He announced with pride, “I’ll take this home and mow the grass next to our barracks.”
“They crammed buckets, axes, and bicycles into their trucks. They had to stoop to put everything in the cars.”
Mr. Yefremov has sent us images he claims to have taken from the air base in Melitopol. They depict cargo aircraft and a burning structure.
They are among the photographs and documentation he has provided – and which we have confirmed – to authenticate Mr. Yefremov’s name, rank, and whereabouts in Ukraine during the spring of 2022.
Images of Melitopol air base were authenticated using online mapping tools.
There, he and eight soldiers under his leadership guarded a Russian artillery unit for a month and a half.
“We slept outside the entire time,” he recalls. “We were so hungry that we began rabbit and pheasant hunting. Once, we came upon a mansion. A Russian fighter was present inside. The soldier stated, “We’re with the 100th Brigade and we reside here now.”
“There was a lot of food. The refrigerators were full. There was sufficient food to endure a nuclear war. However, the soldiers residing there were capturing and eating Japanese carp from the pond outside.”
“I witnessed interrogation and torture”
In April, Konstantin Yefremov’s unit relocated to the town of Bilmak, north-east of Melitopol, to protect what he calls a “logistics headquarters.” There, he claims to have watched Ukrainian detainees being interrogated and mistreated.
On this particular day, three inmates were brought in.
“One of them revealed that he was a sniper. This caused the Russian colonel to lose his sanity. He struck him, lowered the Ukrainian’s pants, and asked if he was married.
“‘Yes,’ responded the prisoner. The colonel answered, “Then please bring me a broom.” “We’ll transform you into a woman and transmit the film to your wife.”
Mr. Yefremov claims that on another occasion, the colonel questioned the prisoner about the Ukrainian nationalists in his squad.
“The Ukrainian was unable to comprehend the question. He responded that the soldiers were Ukrainian naval infantry. “They knocked out some of his teeth for that response.”
The Kremlin wishes for Russians to believe that Russia is battling fascists, neo-Nazis, and ultranationalists in Ukraine. From the viewpoint of the Russian public and military, this false narrative dehumanizes Ukrainians.
According to Mr. Yefremov, the Ukrainian prisoner was blindfolded.
“The colonel placed a pistol to the head of the prisoner and stated, ‘I’ll count to three and then shoot you in the head.'”
“After counting, he fired just to the side of his head on both sides. The colonel began to yell at him. I said: ‘Comrade colonel! “He cannot hear you; you have rendered him deaf!”
Mr. Yefremov tells how the colonel issued instructions that only water and crackers be provided to the Ukrainians. However, he claims, “We attempted to offer them hot tea and cigarettes.”
Mr. Yefremov recalls that to prevent the inmates from sleeping on the ground, his men threw them hay at night so that no one would see them.
During a second interrogation, Mr. Yefremov stated that the colonel shot a prisoner in the arm and right leg below the knee, causing bone damage. According to Konstantin, his men bandaged the prisoner and went to the Russian commanders – “not the Colonel, he was insane” – to inform them that the prisoner needed to be transported to the hospital or he would die from blood loss.
“We clad him in a Russian uniform and transported him to the hospital. We warned him, “Don’t declare you’re a Ukrainian prisoner of war, otherwise the doctors will refuse to treat you, or the injured Russian soldiers will hear and shoot you, and we can’t stop them.”
Mr. Yefremov, the Ukrainian prisoner was blindfolded
The UN Human Rights Office has been documenting instances of inmates being mistreated throughout the conflict in Ukraine. It has interviewed over 400 Ukrainian and Russian prisoners of war.
“Unfortunately, we’ve seen that both sides are torturing and mistreating prisoners of war,” says Matilda Bogner, director of the UN monitoring mission located in Ukraine.
“If we compare the infractions, torture or other ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war occurs at nearly every level of imprisonment. The conditions of imprisonment are often worse in many regions of Russia and occupied Ukraine.”
According to Ms. Bogner, the worst types of torture or mistreatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war typically occur during interrogation. She claims that they can be subjected to electrocution and a variety of torture techniques, including hanging and bashing.
“When individuals arrive at internment camps, they are frequently subjected to so-called welcoming beatings. In addition, they frequently lack sufficient food and drink,” she adds.
Russian prisoners of war have also recounted being beaten and electrocuted.
Ms. Bogner states that international law prohibits all forms of torture and cruel treatment. This behavior is wrong on both sides.
The Russian Ministry of Defense did not reply quickly to a request for comment.
Accused of being a traitor and defector
Mr. Yefremov would return to his demining unit eventually, but not for long.
“Seven of us had decided [to leave the service],” he informs me.
End of May, back in Chechnya, he penned his resignation letter. Several senior officers were unhappy.
They began to threaten me. Officers who had not spent a single day in Ukraine called me a coward and a traitor. They denied my request to resign. I was terminated.”
Mr. Yefremov displays military correspondence.
In the first document, he is accused of “evading his responsibilities” and ignoring an order to return to Ukraine. It is described as “a grave violation of discipline.”
The second letter discusses Mr. Yefremov’s “early discharge from military duty… for contract violation.”
“After ten years of duty, I was labeled a traitor and a deserter because I refused to kill people,” he claims. “However, I was relieved that I was now a free person and no longer need to kill or be killed.”
Mr. Yefremov had left the military. However, they are still at risk of being taken back to the fight.
In September 2022, President Putin declared “partial mobilization.” Hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens would be conscripted and deployed to Ukraine.
Mr. Yefremov says he knew he would not be left alone since he had previously served in the Ukrainian military.
He devised an escape strategy.
“In the home where I resided, I cut a hole in the attic ceiling if police and enlistment authorities broke in to give my call-up papers.
“Enlistment officers were driving to my residence and waiting in their cars for my arrival. I rented an apartment and hid there.
“I hid from the neighbors as well, because I’d heard of cases in which neighbors reported hiding young men who had been drafted. This situation was humiliating and unacceptable to me.”
Mr. Yefremov contacted the Russian human rights organization Gulagu.net for assistance in leaving Russia.
What does Mr. Yefremov believe about a large number of Russians who support Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine?
“I have no idea what is going through their minds,” he says. “How could they let themselves be deceived? When they go to market, they are aware that they may be cheated. They lack confidence in their wives and spouses.
“However, the man who has deceived them for twenty years only needs to say the word, and these people are ready to kill and die. I cannot comprehend it.”
As we conclude our conversation, Mr. Yefremov apologizes to the Ukrainian people.
“I apologize to the entire Ukrainian nation for entering their country as an uninvited, armed guest.
“Thank God I did not cause any harm. I didn’t kill anyone. Thankfully, I did not perish.
“I don’t even have the moral right to seek the Ukrainians for forgiveness. I cannot forgive myself, so I cannot ask others to do likewise.”
