Inside Russia’s new gulag: what The New Yorker found in a Rostov cell of Ukrainian women

Since 2014, Russia has detained and continues to hold at least 1,878 Ukrainian civilians, with at least 223 of them being women. These individuals have faced torture and inhumane conditions due to their status as civilian hostages. Though often accused of terrorism, treason, and other serious crimes, Ukraine argues that they should never have been detained in the first place, while Russia points to its own legal rulings and claims they are serving sentences for such offenses.

The New Yorker has reported on Ukrainian women who shared a cell at Rostov pretrial detention center No. 1. Joshua Yaffa interviewed former inmates and exchanged letters with several women still held at the center. Some had served in Ukraine's military, while others had no ties to the military. Some were exchanged, while others remain in custody.

Valentina Zayarnaya, a 66-year-old English teacher from Amvrosiivka near Donetsk, was arrested by FSB officers after being duped into thinking she was helping a family member. She was accused of assisting a "DNR" lawmaker in planning an assassination attempt and was sentenced to 12 years, while her alleged accomplice, Denys Storozhuk, an ex-Ukrainian military lieutenant colonel, was exchanged in 2024 and faces an in absentia 22-year sentence.

Natalia Vlasova, a 44-year-old detained for over seven years, was initially recruited by an SBU acquaintance to travel to Kyiv on a drug-possession case. She was later detained at Izolyatsia, a secret prison in Donetsk, where she endured months of torture by officials, including Vasily Yevdokimov. She described being stripped, bound, shocked with electricity, and even had her teeth filed with a metal file. Despite her grim experiences, she has continued teaching English to her fellow inmates in prison.