A senior Russian general allegedly sent his wife photographs of severed human ears taken from Ukrainian prisoners — while joking about torture and executions in private messages. Major General Roman Demurchiev, a deputy commander in Russia’s 20th Combined Arms Army, is said to have exchanged years of chats, images and videos documenting the treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers.
The cache of messages, reportedly spanning 2022 to 2024, has been examined by investigative journalists and human rights researchers. In one exchange he allegedly offered a detainee to another officer as a “gift”, writing that his own unit had not yet had time to interrogate or brutalise the captive. Other messages described prisoners being beaten to death with shovels shortly after capture, with footage circulated among fellow servicemen.
The most disturbing material was reportedly sent to his wife — a photograph appearing to show freshly cut ears taken from a Ukrainian fighter.
Investigators say she responded flippantly, comparing them to bar snacks, suggesting the violence had become normalised even beyond the battlefield.
Reporters were also able to trace at least one prisoner referenced in the conversations, a volunteer from the Zaporizhzhia region.
After being released in a prisoner exchange, he described prolonged beatings and electric shocks during nearly two years in Russian captivity, matching details contained in the messages.
The material is among the clearest alleged evidence yet linking senior Russian command structures directly to the mistreatment of prisoners of war — behaviour strictly prohibited under the Geneva Conventions.
Legal experts say mutilation, torture and execution of detainees would constitute war crimes if proven in court.
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Russia has repeatedly denied its forces commit atrocities in Ukraine and has not publicly addressed the specific allegations against Demurchiev.
However the claims add to mounting international concern over conditions inside detention facilities holding thousands of captured Ukrainians.
United Nations investigators have previously reported widespread abuse and confirmed the execution of more than a hundred prisoners since the full-scale invasion began.
She wrote that “the scale is really off the charts about how many people who are detained are subjected to some form of degrading or inhumane treatment. It’s not only on an individual level; this is widespread and systematic, amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
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