Ukrainian woman said her Russian captors mocked her execution and forced her to dig her own grave

• A Ukrainian woman recounted her harrowing experience of Russian captivity to US lawmakers.
• During a hearing Wednesday, the woman described being tortured and abused by Moscow's troops.

A Ukrainian woman delivered harrowing testimony to US lawmakers on Wednesday about her experience being held captive by Russian soldiers. She recounted scenes of torture, physical abuse, and mock executions.

The 57-year-old woman spoke through a translator to the House Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on war crimes and atrocities that Russian soldiers are accused of carrying out in Ukraine. She said that she lived under Russian occupation for nearly a year, and was sometimes deprived of communication, food, and electricity.

Russia's military is "abusing" Ukrainians just because of their nationality, she said. Its soldiers hunted down former government officials, public opinion leaders, and businesspeople — "persecuting" those who sympathized with Kyiv's government. "They kidnap people and keep them locked up, and torture them," she said.

The woman, who only gave her first name and described herself as an accountant who had started a small business, said she was targeted by the Russians in January 2023. One day, soldiers barged into her home uninvited and said they were looking for weapons, though she didn't have any. So they took a Ukrainian flag, a map of the country, souvenir magnets, and items memorializing World War II that featured Ukraine's signature blue and yellow colors.

"Then they took me to their torture chamber and kept me there for five days," she said, describing her captivity as "terrible." She told lawmakers that she was beaten, forced to undress, cut with knives, and threatened to be raped and killed by Russian soldiers. At one point, she said she was taken into a field and beaten again.

"They were putting a handgun next to my head and shooting as if executing me," the woman explained. "Also forced me to dig my own grave." Russian soldiers have been accused of this before, sometimes even forcing local Ukrainians in occupied cities to dig mass graves in exchange for food and water.

Her harrowing experience was not isolated. She said that she witnessed other people being tortured by having plastic bags placed over their heads, and wasn't sure if they were still alive. Eventually she was released, and managed to escape the country with the help of friends.

It was not clear where, exactly, the woman was held captive by the Russian soldiers. Moscow's forces have partially occupied several regions in eastern and southern Ukraine for months, and are now fighting a grinding and brutal war against Ukrainian troops along a relatively static front.

Russian forces have been accused of carrying out war crimes, human rights violations, and other atrocities against Ukrainian civilians since the early days of their February 2022 full-scale invasion.

International investigators and human rights groups have published evidence of widespread torture and abuse, and local authorities, journalists, and civilians have documented horrific scenes of mass killings and indiscriminate attacks.

The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, alleging that he's responsible for war crimes that involve the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.