Inside Russia’s new gulag: what The New Yorker found in a Rostov cell of Ukrainian women

The New Yorker's Joshua Yaffa reports on Ukrainian women held at a Rostov detention center, part of at least 1,878 confirmed Ukrainian civilians Russia has detained since 2014. Zayarnaya, an English teacher, was sentenced to 12 years after helping a man she trusted, who turned out to be a Ukrainian military officer who concealed his identity from her; he was later exchanged and sentenced in absentia.

Vlasova has spent more than seven years in custody after being detained on a forged passport, describing extensive torture at the Izolyatsia facility including electric shock and mutilation carried out by a named DNR security official. She recanted her statements in court as coerced, but was sentenced to 18 years anyway, including for the attempted assassination of the man she says tortured her.

Russia says both women are lawfully convicted criminals; Ukraine says under the Geneva Conventions they should never have been detained. Because the two countries do not exchange civilians the way they exchange soldiers, neither woman has any clear route home.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.