A former senior Russian army officer says he saw his comrades torturing prisoners of war in Ukraine, in a rare eyewitness account from within Moscow’s ranks to address widespread allegations of Russian war crimes
. Speaking to CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday, former Lt. Konstantin Yefremov said he witnessed a deputy commander torturing prisoners of war and threatening them with sexual violence, adding that no one dared to speak out against the officer for fear he would attack them too. “He could have easily shot me or anyone else who said that they didn’t agree with this,” Yefremov said, adding that he personally witnessed the interrogations of three Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The allegations of the former Russian fighters also come amid growing calls from Ukraine and the international community to hold Moscow accountable for alleged war crimes committed during its nearly year-long invasion of its neighbor. On Thursday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen announced that an international center for the prosecution of the “crime of aggression” in Ukraine would be set up in The Hague.
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