The EU has imposed sanctions on 15 people and an entity over the torture of Ukrainian POWs and detained civilians, the Council of the EU announced. The 13 July listings reach prison officials in occupied Ukraine and inside Russia, and one detention facility. Among the targets are people tied to the Olenivka mass killing and the jail where journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna died.
Olenivka's deputy chief held responsible for mass killing of POWs
Eight Russians and one entity fall under the EU's Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. The most prominent is Dmitry Neelov, first deputy head of the Olenivka prison in occupied Donetsk Oblast. The Council says he took part in torturing, beating, and humiliating Ukrainian POWs and civilian captives. It blames him directly for the prisoners' mass deaths at the colony on 28–29 July 2022. He deliberately held back evacuating wounded prisoners after a Russian attack on the colony. A number of senior officers and colony employees who degraded prisoners join Neelov on the list.
A UN expert panel confirmed in 2025 that Russia carried out the strike that killed over 50 Ukrainian defenders there.
Torture as staff entertainment at Penal Colony No 7
Alexei Khavetsky, security chief of Penal Colony No 7 in the village of Pakino in Russia's Vladimir Oblast, ran the systematic abuse of Ukrainian POWs. Under his supervision, prisoners suffered electric shocks, deliberate starvation, sexual abuse, and extreme humiliation "for the entertainment of the colony staff," the Council states.
Investigation: Russia blew up 53 Ukrainian POWs in Olenivka prison, then honored killers with medals
FSB officer tortured civilians in three occupied oblasts
The list also includes Yan Zanevsky, an officer of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). He took part in the illegal detention and torture of civilians in occupied parts of Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. He beat, suffocated, and sexually abused detainees.
The Taganrog jail where Roshchyna died becomes a sanctioned entity
The one entity designated is Pre-trial detention center-2 in Taganrog, known as SIZO-2. Russia holds Ukrainian POWs and civilians there, women and journalists among them. Systemic torture there has led to deaths. Journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna spent a year detained there before her death, and her body bore numerous torture marks.
Whole command chain of Penal Colony No 10 listed
Seven more individuals fall under a separate regime targeting human rights abuses inside Russia. They are Alexander Gnutov, who heads Penal Colony No 10 in Udarny village, his five deputies, and Galina Mokshanova, head of its medical unit. The colony has held hundreds of Ukrainian POWs and civilians captured in occupied territories. Former detainees describe beatings, electric shocks, mock executions, sexual violence, stress positions that caused trophic ulcers, and refusals of medical care. Detained civilians endure the same abuse as the POWs, with no trial and no legal status.
All listed individuals and the entity face an asset freeze, and EU citizens and companies cannot make funds available to them.
