Ilya Sorokin. Photo: Schemes
Ukrainian investigative journalists have uncovered the name of a doctor allegedly responsible for the torture of captured Ukrainian soldiers at a penal colony in Mordovia, western Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Thursday.
According to Schemes, an investigative unit of the Ukrainian service of RFE/RL, Ilya Sorokin, 34, known as “Dr. Evil” within the camp, allegedly beat, used a stun gun on, humiliated and denied medical care to Ukrainian prisoners of war stationed at Mordovia’s Penal Colony No. 10, in the settlement of Udarny.
Detainees were made to stand for as long as 16 hours a day while blaring Russian patriotic songs played on a loop, sometimes for 24 hours straight, in the so-called punishment block. They were occasionally forced to sing the Russian national anthem, standing with their hands over their hearts.
"You’d want to say, ‘Just beat me. Let 10 of you beat me with batons for five minutes. Then I’ll lie down, moaning, but in silence — please,’” one former Ukrainian POW Yulian Pylypey recalled, according to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), which published the investigation in English.
Sorokin also forced the prisoners to shout “Glory to Russian medicine” every time he prompted them, shocking them with a stun gun or bringing in the guards to beat them up if they refused, Pylypey said.
Citing sources in Ukrainian law enforcement, reporters from Schemes say that at least 177 Ukrainian soldiers were held at the penal colony from June 2022 to April 2025. Nearly all reported experiencing torture and sustained physical and psychological abuse. The prisoners also described sexual violence, including threats of rape and beatings aimed at their genitals.
At least four prisoners died in Russian captivity in 2023–2024, Schemes reported, “due to pneumonia, general exhaustion, and prolonged malnutrition”.
According to the OCCRP, there are an estimated 8,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war still in Russia, in addition to thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
In one notable case, the body of civilian and journalist Viktoria Roshchyna was found to have missing body parts, including her eyeballs and brain, when she was handed back to Ukraine in April as part of a repatriation agreement.