The numerous atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine have two cross-cutting features. First, most have been part of Russia’s aggression since its initial invasion of Ukraine’s Crimea and Donbas regions in 2014, though they have skyrocketed in number and severity since the full-scale invasion in 2022. Second, all these crimes are inherently interconnected and together serve as the means by which the Kremlin more broadly intends to subjugate Ukrainians and eliminate any traces of the Ukrainian national identity. It is against this backdrop that the enforced disappearances of Ukrainians should be analyzed and addressed.
The International Criminal Court has preliminarily alleged that Russia committed the crime against humanity of enforced disappearance in occupied Crimea well before its full-scale invasion. Since 2022, Russia has escalated its use of enforced disappearances, both in Crimea and across Ukraine’s more recently occupied territories. As with victims of other crimes, most of the disappeared are local officials, journalists, civil society activists, or indeed anyone Russia deems to be pro-Ukrainian. Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are also targeted. Disappearances are often combined with other crimes such as unlawful transfer, incommunicado detention, torture, sexual violence, enslavement, and killing.
Relatives of the disappeared undergo an agonizing trial of their own: Devastated by the loss of their loved ones, they engage in long searches, hire costly lawyers, collect whatever meagre information and hearsay they can find, and risk their own lives by traveling to occupied territories or into Russia, hoping to uncover the truth. The search is a protracted ordeal that families of the missing and disappeared have faced in other conflict-affected countries around the world, from Colombia to Lebanon, Nepal, and Syria, among so many others.
Victoria Roshchyna’s fate is a testament to the devastating reality of Russia’s deliberate and systematic use of enforced disappearance. In 2023, Russians abducted Roshchyna, a young Ukrainian journalist, in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, denying any information to her family for months. They confirmed her captivity much later but refused to specify her location, denied visits to her, and prevented her access to a lawyer. In 2025, the examination of returned unidentified remains confirmed Roshchyna’s death, her body gravely mutilated.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine has established that Russia’s use of enforced disappearances and torture is thoroughly organized, widespread, and systematic, thus constituting a crime against humanity. As of June 2025, Ukraine reports over 70,000 missing persons, most of whom are likely victims of enforced disappearances perpetrated with the Russian government’s authorization.
In response, Ukraine has adopted a law defining the legal status of the disappeared; established the new Office for Missing Persons, currently under the Ministry of Internal Affairs; and created the Unified Information Platform to coordinate the search for missing persons. However, international and domestic human rights organizations are concerned that current initiatives prioritize disappeared POWs, leaving the families of disappeared civilians without adequate support. Social benefits for these families are also much smaller.
The recently launched international Register of Damage caused by Russia’s aggression commendably welcomes claims concerning disappeared relatives, but this mechanism cannot provide any form of redress until its compensation commission becomes operative. In October 2024, Ukraine also finally amended its criminal code to include a crimes against humanity provision. While Ukraine is yet to clarify if and how it will apply this provision to past crimes, it nonetheless expands the avenues for domestic prosecution of Russia’s international crimes, including enforced disappearances.
The heartbreak that countless Ukrainian families of the disappeared experience on a daily basis, as they seek answers and acknowledgment, can never be fully mended. However, it can be alleviated, at least to some extent.
Any peace deal should be premised on the immediate and full release of captured Ukrainians and the disclosure of information about the circumstances of conflict-related disappearances and detentions. Whatever such a deal might say about accountability, the duty remains to investigate, prosecute, and punish international crimes, including enforced disappearances. This duty, along with the fact that international crimes have no statute of limitations, is highly relevant to any proceedings in Ukraine, before an international body, or in another national court based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. Finally, reparations for the victims and their families should not wait for the end of hostilities or for criminal proceedings to take place.
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PHOTO: Returned Ukrainian prisoners of war put on blue-and-yellow-colored bracelets. On May 23, 2025, Russia and Ukraine began their largest prisoner exchange of the war, with 390 Ukrainian prisoners returning home that day. (Office of the President of Ukraine)
