Russia operating 21 'filtration' locations to process Ukraine PoW: US Report

According to a new Yale University report backed by the USState Department in an effort to hold Moscow accountable, Russia and its proxy forces in Ukraine are running 21 facilities used to detain, question, and process prisoners of war and civilians.

The report, published on Thursday, uses open-source data and commercial satellite imagery to identify the various locations with "high confidence," including buildings that have previously been used as markets, schools, and regular prisons. Additionally, it pinpoints potential graves at one prison complex.

The Conflict Observatory was established in May with funding from the U.S. State Department to gather and examine proof of war crimes and other alleged atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine. The Conflict Observatory's Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale School of Public Health, which produced the report, is a partner in the Conflict Observatory.

The findings, according to the lab's executive director Nathaniel Raymond, show that Russia and its allies have set up a "system of filtration" to separate people in regions under Russian occupation, which constitutes a "human rights emergency."

At one of the locations, a prison complex close to Olenivka, where 53 Ukrainian prisoners of war were allegedly killed in an explosion on July 29, reports of abuses had already surfaced.

According to the study, Yale researchers have discovered ground disturbances that are consistent with individual or mass graves as early as April, correlating with a former prisoner's testimony that captives were made to dig graves around that time.

The researchers discovered other disturbances elsewhere in the property were captured on July 27, before to the explosion at Olenivka, even though they were unable to draw any conclusions about the fate of the Ukrainian prisoners of war held at the prison. Unrest at the compound in July was previously covered by The New York Times.

(with inputs from agencies)