New allegations of  torture by Russians troops have emerged as Ukrainian soldiers who returned in an prisoners’ swap open up on the chilling details of their time in Russian captivity, said Ukraine’s human right ombudsperson Lydmula Denisova in a statement on Tuesday.

The soldiers say they were held up near Mariupol and later ended up in detention centers in Russia.  They were transported with tied hands and bags on their heads, while some had their eyed duct-taped.

During their time in Russian prisons they were beaten and threatened to be killed or maimed. One of the soldiers said the Russian prison personnel pointed a gun at him and then shot up in the air, while another detainee was grilled by some Chechen men who put a bag on his head and threatened him to cut off his fingers and toes. There is another account of a mock execution when a Ukrainian captive was put a gun to his temple and shot the blanks.

“Russists used beatings to make Ukrainian soldiers memorize the Russian national anthem, history of their national flag and coat of arms,’ said Denisova.

Ukrainian war prisoners hardly got any medical aid – it was provided once, by the Red Cross representatives in Sevastopol. The prison conditions were horrid – the captives were stripped of basic need of water as Russian guards would offer just 1,5 litre for the group of 30 detainees at a time, while their food rations were made of a slice of bread and lard. They didn’t have a chance to wash.

‘No chance was provided for getting in touch with their families. The war prisoner cards provisioned  by art.70 of 1949 Geneva Convention for sending a notice to their families were.. filled on only before the [prisoners’] exchange,’ added the ombudsperson.

Lydmyla Denisova called on the UN Human Rights Council to address to Russia’s violations of war prisoners’ rights.