Putin’s lapdog accused of severing Ukrainian soldiers ears and sending pictures to wife | World | News
A top Russian general allegedly sent his wife photos of severed human ears taken from Ukrainian prisoners while joking about torture and executions in private messages. Major General Roman Demurchiev, deputy commander of Russia’s 20th Combined Arms Army, is said to have shared years of chats, images and videos documenting the treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The cache of messages, which reportedly spanned the years 2022 to 2024, was examined by investigative journalists and human rights researchers. In one meeting, he allegedly offered a detainee to another officer as a “gift,” writing that his unit had not yet had time to interrogate or brutalize the detainee. Other messages described prisoners being beaten to death with shovels shortly after capture, and the images were circulated among other soldiers.
The most disturbing material was reportedly sent to his wife: a photo showing the freshly cut ears of a Ukrainian fighter.
Investigators say he reacted flippantly by comparing them to bar snacks, suggesting that violence had become normalized even beyond the battlefield.
Reporters were also able to track down at least one prisoner mentioned in the conversations, a volunteer from the Zaporizhzhia region.
After he was released through a prisoner exchange, he explained that he was subjected to long-term beatings and electric shocks during his nearly two years of captivity in Russia, matching the details in the messages.
This material is among the most clearly alleged evidence directly linking senior Russian command structures to the mistreatment of prisoners of war; this behavior is strictly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions.
Legal experts say the mutilation, torture and execution of detainees would constitute war crimes if proven in court.
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Russia has repeatedly denied that its forces committed atrocities in Ukraine and has not made public the specific allegations against Demurchiev.
However, the allegations raise international concerns about the conditions in detention facilities where thousands of captured Ukrainians are held.
United Nations investigators have previously reported widespread abuses and confirmed that more than a hundred prisoners have been executed since the start of the large-scale occupation.
He wrote: “The scale of how many detainees were subjected to some form of degrading or inhumane treatment is truly extraordinary. This is not just at the individual level; it is widespread and systematic, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
