Ukrainian POW who died in Russian prison killed by blunt force chest injury, autopsy finds

Ukrainian soldier Oleksandr Ishchenko, who was taken captive by Russian forces while defending Mariupol in the spring of 2022, died from a closed chest injury caused by “contact with a blunt object,” according to a Ukrainian forensic report published on Wednesday. Ishchenko’s death was first reported on July 31 at a hearing in the Russian authorities’ case against him. Here’s what we know about his death.

Oleksandr Ishchenko, a 55-year-old soldier from Ukraine’s Azov Brigade who was captured by Russian forces in the spring of 2022, died from a closed chest injury caused by “contact with a blunt object,” according to a Ukrainian forensic report published by Azov deputy commander Sviatoslav Palamar.

The report notes that Ishchenko had multiple rib fractures when he died. The forensic examiner was unable to determine exactly how Ishchenko received his injuries, and it’s unclear how Ishchenko’s body was returned to Ukraine. The last publicly reported exchange of deceased soldiers’ bodies between Russia and Ukraine occurred on August 2, and Ishchenko’s death was first reported at a court hearing on his case on July 31.

“This isn’t just another one of the Russians’ cynical violations of the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. It’s an attack against human dignity, international law, and the principles and values that we’re defending on the front,” Palamar wrote.

Ishchenko joined Ukraine’s territorial defense forces at the very beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion. He was taken captive by Russian troops while defending Mariupol later in the spring. Later, he and 23 other soldiers and civilian employees of the Azov Brigade were formally arrested on terrorism charges. The human rights organization Memorial recognized the 24 defendants in the case as political prisoners.

“The killers surely understood that such treatment of Ukrainian political prisoners could potentially provoke a symmetrical reaction from the Ukrainian side. They understood this but killed him anyways,” Russian lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov told the independent outlet iStories, commenting on Ishchenko’s death.