B10‑0307/2025

European Parliament resolution on the human cost of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the urgent need to end Russian aggression: the situation of illegally detained civilians and prisoners of war, and the continued bombing of civilians

(2025/2710(RSP))

The European Parliament,

– having regard to its previous resolutions on Ukraine and Russia,

– having regard to the Hague Conventions, the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols, the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the European Convention on Human Rights, the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,

– having regard to the Helsinki Final Act of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) of 1 August 1975, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe of the OSCE of 21 November 1990 and the UN Memorandum on Security Assurances in Connection with Ukraine’s Accession to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 5 December 1994 (the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances),

– having regard to the statement of 16 October 2024 by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy on the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war,

– having regard to Resolution 2573 (2024) of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on missing persons, prisoners of war and civilians in captivity as a result of the war of aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine,

– having regard to the report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine of 28 May 2025 entitled ‘“They are hunting us”: systematic drone attacks targeting civilians in Kherson’[1],

– having regard to Rule 136(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas for over a decade, since the 2014 annexation of Crimea and occupation of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk, Russia has openly violated Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, leading to severe humanitarian, economic and ecological consequences, and regional instability; whereas Russia could stop its brutal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine at any moment;

B. whereas, according to Ukrainian data since the beginning of 2025, the Russian army has launched nearly 27 700 guided aerial bombs, over 11 000 Shahed drones, around 9 000 other types of combat drones, and more than 700 missiles into Ukraine; whereas Russian forces have systematically targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure, killing more than 13 300 civilians and injuring over 32 700, as reported by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as of May 2025;

C. whereas Russian forces are also responsible for forced deportations, including of children, some forcibly adopted, as well as disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, executions of civilians and prisoners of war (POWs), and other acts of terror, including sexual violence, in particular against women and girls; whereas Russia continues to illegally alter the ethnic composition of occupied Ukrainian territories;

D. whereas Russia’s war has devastated the lives of Ukrainian children, with over 1 800 killed or injured and millions displaced; whereas over 65 % of Ukrainian children are living in poverty, with up to 100 000 still in institutional care, and their education is severely disrupted; whereas over 1.5 million Ukrainian children are at risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, and nearly half experience distress and isolation;

E. whereas Ukraine and international bodies have documented hundreds of executions of Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces since February 2022; whereas the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine is investigating the execution of 268 Ukrainian POWs (208 on the battlefield and 59 in the ‘Olenivka’ penal colony); whereas the increasing number of executions, together with the available evidence, indicates that these crimes are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a systematic and deliberate policy, constituting serious violations of international law and human rights, as well as war crimes under the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute;

F. whereas Ukrainian POWs are subjected to starvation, denial of medical care, and physical, sexual and psychological violence; whereas the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has documented a widespread and systematic practice of torture by Russian authorities against Ukrainian civilians and POWs, with dozens dying in captivity as a result of their abuse; whereas over 5 600 Ukrainians have been identified as victims of torture in criminal proceedings, and more than 170 torture chambers have been documented;

G. whereas over 70 000 Ukrainians are currently listed as missing, with the real figure likely higher due to unreported disappearances; whereas Russia has not provided any information about POWs or unjustly detained civilians;

H. whereas preliminary Ukrainian data indicates that over 16 000 Ukrainian civilians are currently being held in Russian-operated prisons; whereas the Russian authorities hold fake trials, exert tremendous physical and psychological pressure, and impose long sentences, accusing those detained of serious crimes such as espionage, terrorist activities and financing terrorist organisations;

I. whereas Ukraine has conducted 65 prisoner exchanges with Russia since February 2022, resulting in the release of 5 757 individuals, including three large-scale exchanges in May 2025, with an additional 469 individuals released outside formal exchange mechanisms;

J. whereas the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine concluded that Russian armed forces have committed crimes against humanity and the war crime of attacking civilians, through drone attacks targeting civilians in the Kherson region;

K. whereas Russia, while posturing as a defender of the Christian faith and values, has been conducting mass and systematic violations of religious freedoms in occupied Ukrainian territories, with an outright ban on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, at least 47 Ukrainian religious leaders killed and more subjected to torture, and religious property deliberately targeted and destroyed by Russian forces; whereas, in parallel, Russia weaponises the Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate as a tool to tyrannise and control religious communities and the Ukrainian population more broadly;

L. whereas the current estimated cost of damage caused by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine over the past three years stands at over EUR 500 billion – a conservative figure that continues to grow daily;

M. whereas the EU has adopted 17 packages of sanctions against Russia; whereas despite these and other sanctions, Russia continues to wage its war of aggression against Ukraine;

1. Reiterates its strongest possible condemnation of Russia’s unprovoked, illegal and unjustified war of aggression against Ukraine; demands that Russia immediately cease all military activities in Ukraine, fully withdraw from Ukraine’s internationally recognised territory, end forced deportations, release all detained and deported Ukrainians, and compensate Ukraine and victims of war crimes for the damage caused; underlines that Russia, its leadership and its allies bear full responsibility for the war and the atrocities committed, and calls for full accountability;

2. Strongly condemns the execution of Ukrainian POWs by Russian forces, and the ongoing use of torture and inhumane treatment by Russia, which constitute war crimes and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions; calls for the EU, its Member States and international partners, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross, to increase pressure on Russia to comply with its international obligations and to grant international humanitarian organisations immediate access to all prisoners and places of detention; demands the immediate and unconditional release and return of all civilians illegally detained by Russia;

3. Strongly condemns the Russian Federation’s violent actions against Ukrainian children, including killings, forced transfers and deportations, illegal adoptions, sexual abuse and exploitation, attempts to erase their Ukrainian identity via forced Russification, and militarisation; further condemns Belarus’ involvement in these actions; stresses that these acts form part of a genocidal strategy to erase Ukrainian identity; calls for increased EU support for Ukrainian children’s education, healthcare and mental health services, and for child protection, including trauma recovery and safe learning environments; urges the EU and Ukraine to prioritise children’s needs in aid and reconstruction efforts;

4. Reiterates its call for the EU and its Member States to increase humanitarian and rehabilitation assistance for victims of Russian captivity, including access to medical and psychological care, reintegration services and legal assistance; commends Ukrainian and international civil society organisations for supporting families of abducted Ukrainian children, POWs and illegally detained civilians; calls for the EU, its Member States and the international community to assist their efforts and intensify pressure on Russia to return all abducted and detained Ukrainians;

5. Expresses deep concern at the reported 70 000 missing Ukrainians, and calls for increased efforts to investigate their whereabouts;

6. Welcomes the recent agreement between Ukraine and the Council of Europe to establish a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine; calls for the EU and its Member States to support efforts to investigate violations of international humanitarian law by Russia and bring the perpetrators to justice;

7. Reaffirms the EU’s commitment to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, based on its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and supports Ukraine’s Peace Formula; stresses that any peace agreement must uphold Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and prevent Russia from rearming in the future; believes that the EU must contribute to robust security guarantees for Ukraine; reiterates that only Ukraine can determine the terms of a peace agreement acceptable to its people;

8. Believes that in order for Russia to seriously consider ending its war of aggression, beginning with a sustained ceasefire, substantial additional pressure must be applied by the EU and like-minded partners; calls on the Member States, therefore, to urgently adopt the 18th EU sanctions package and to impose further sanctions on key Russian industrial sectors (metallurgical, chemical, agricultural, financial, IT and nuclear) and raw materials (such as steel, titanium, nickel and uranium); reiterates its call for a full embargo on Russian fossil fuels, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), and all other hydrocarbon products, and for further reductions in the price cap on Russian petroleum products, in coordination with G7 partners; calls for sanctions on the rest of the ‘shadow fleet’ vessels, as well as their captains, owners, cargo suppliers and buyers, and for individual sanctions related to Russia’s military-industrial complex, propaganda and disinformation activities to be further expanded; urges the EU and its Member States to systematically tackle sanctions circumvention and strengthen accountability for sanctions violations; regrets the US administration’s decision to lift sanctions on a number of Kremlin-linked financial entities and calls for the swift adoption and ratification of the Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025;

9. Reiterates its calls for the EU and its Member States to urgently transfer the financial custody of immobilised Russian assets to one or more special purpose vehicles so as to shield them from veto weaponisation at EU level and make them available, through a loan backed by Ukraine’s legitimate claim to war reparations, for Ukraine’s defence and reconstruction, and reparations for victims; calls for Russia’s access to high-tech components and equipment, used in Russian missiles, drones, electronic intelligence and warfare, to be further limited;

10. Stresses that the EU, together with its Member States, is Ukraine’s primary strategic ally and thus must significantly increase its assistance and support, particularly regarding the defence equipment, training and strategic assistance necessary to uphold Ukraine’s right to self-defence; calls for the EU and its Member States to ensure the stable, predictable and timely supply of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine and to increase joint procurement, expand production capacities and further integrate Ukraine into European defence industrial chains; notes, with deep concern, the delays and reduction in the supply of US aid, which have already severely impacted Ukraine’s ability to defend itself and which risk emboldening further Russian advances; notes that EU support to Ukraine has surpassed that of the United States, underlining the EU’s vital role in sustaining Ukraine’s resistance and recovery;

11. Calls for the EU and its Member States to work towards maintaining the broadest possible international support for Ukraine, including by building coalitions with like-minded non-EU partners;

12. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the relevant EU institutions, the governments and parliaments of the Member States, the President, Government and Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the Russian authorities.