Ukrainian investigative journalists have identified Nikita Pushkarev, a 26-year-old guard at correctional colony No. 12 in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov Oblast, who systematically tortured Ukrainian prisoners and fatally beat a civilian captive named Maksym Vashchenko in 2022, Slidstvo.Info reported.
The investigation adds documented evidence to the pattern of systematic abuse in Russian detention facilities, where more than 95% of returning Ukrainian prisoners report torture. Released prisoners identified Pushkarev by photographs found by journalists and described consistent patterns of gratuitous violence—guards beating captives not for information, but for sport.
How Ukrainian civilian prisoner Maksym Vashchenko diedVashchenko, a civilian who had previously served in Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation but was no longer fighting when war began, was detained by occupation authorities and transferred to the Russian colony. He suffered from stomach problems and could barely eat.
"One day he came and started stuffing bread into his mouth. And he says: 'Oh, you bastard, you're f**king with me!' And he started beating him, beating him, beating him until it was all over," said a released prisoner named Ruslan.
Another witness said Pushkarev struck Vashchenko approximately 20 times with a stick. When the man collapsed, other prisoners attempted to resuscitate him while Pushkarev simply walked away.
"He refused to eat, almost did not speak, lost a lot of weight, was constantly apathetic," said former prisoner Yaroslav Rumyantsev. "He constantly looked at the floor, looked like a person who was already saying goodbye to life. And how can this person be beaten?"
Russian guard used Ukrainian POWs as "live punching bags"Multiple released captives described Pushkarev practicing combat techniques on starving Ukrainians.
"He came up and slammed this old man with some fancy move—drove it right into his gut like, 'Look at me!' The old man doubled over, coughing, and he brags to a special forces guy: 'Think you can drop him too?' So the spec ops guy walks up and smacks him," recalled Oleksandr Gusakov, who spent more than three years in captivity. "They mess around because they can, because nobody stops them," he added.
Another released prisoner, Oleksandr Stepanov, witnessed Pushkarev punishing prisoners who worked in the cafeteria: "I'd never seen anything like it in my life. How can you torment people like that? He made them squat, then lined them against the wall and beat them—fists, feet, everything. I saw it all with my own eyes. He'd get a running start, jump, and kick them."
Pushkarev once organized mass punishment after a prisoner picking onions asked a staffer if he could eat a scrap. The staffer reported him to Nikita. "He punishes us all. Three hours of exercises, in tears and sweat," said former prisoner Yaroslav Rumyantsev.
Russian prison guard promoted while torturing UkrainiansAccording to Russian database leaks obtained by Slidstvo.Info and the KibOrg project, Pushkarev has worked at the colony since 2019. In 2023—during the period of documented abuse—he was promoted to junior officer rank and received a pay increase. His annual income rose to more than 567,000 rubles (approximately $7,000).
Slidstvo.Info journalists contacted Pushkarev posing as internal investigators looking into a complaint about his treatment of prisoners. He initially suspected a scam but confirmed he still works at colony No. 12. "So I just write something back and that's it?" he asked. When they sent him details of Vashchenko's death and asked him to explain, he went silent.
Ukraine's Office of the Prosecutor General confirmed it is conducting forensic examination of prisoner remains. Bodies often arrive long after death and in conditions that complicate effective forensic analysis, said Taras Semkiv, head of the department countering crimes committed in armed conflict.
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