National Guard of Ukraine soldiers detained on the grounds of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant by armed groups of the Russian Federation

General Description of the Case

On February 24, 2022, during the full-scale invasion, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation established control over the territory of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. At the time of the seizure, the facility was occupied by both civilian employees responsible for its operation and soldiers of the National Guard of Ukraine, who were providing security for the high-risk facility.

All of these individuals were effectively detained and held on the plant’s premises until the end of March 2022. Later, the National Guard soldiers were forcibly transferred to the territory of the Republic of Belarus, and subsequently to places of detention within the Russian Federation (a pretrial detention center and several penal colonies in the Bryansk, Tula, and Vladimir regions of the Russian Federation), where they were held for extended periods (ranging from 8 months to 3 years and 7 months). ULAG represents the interests of 19 individuals.

Key Violations

• deprivation of liberty under circumstances that raise doubts as to compliance with the guarantees of Article 5 of the Convention (the right to liberty and security of person), taking into account the applicable provisions of international humanitarian law;
• detention without proper legal status and procedural safeguards provided for by both international humanitarian law and human rights law;
• unlawful transfer (transit through the territory of third states);
• torture and inhuman treatment during detention.

Our Role

Representation before the ECtHR, as well as support and legal advice regarding criminal proceedings at the national level.

Status of the Case

• National proceedings – The Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is conducting a pre-trial investigation into allegations of war crimes (Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
• ECtHR – the cases were communicated by the Court in 2025 as part of groups of applications (in particular, Otroshchenko and Others v. Russia and Ukraine, No. 38334/22, and Pavlyuk and Others v. Russia and Ukraine, No. 41246/22). In 2026, the applicants’ representatives submitted replies to the Governments’ observations and the Court’s questions regarding the application of Articles 3 (prohibition of torture), 5 (right to liberty and security of person), and 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the Convention.

Note

This category of cases is illustrative of the complex interaction between the norms of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The key issue is determining the limits of the application of the guarantees under Article 5 of the Convention to persons who may formally be considered prisoners of war. Of particular note is the fact that the military personnel in question were captured while performing security duties at a facility posing a significant nuclear risk and were not participating in hostilities in the conventional sense. This highlights the need for an individualised assessment of their status and the applicable safeguards. In a broader context, these cases may be significant for the further development of the ECtHR’s approach following the decision in Ukraine and the Netherlands v. the Russian Federation (2025) regarding the integration of IHL standards into the Convention’s framework.