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Amnesty International: All sides in Ukraine fighting are perpetrating war crimes almost daily

Associated Press
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FILE - In this Saturday Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, Russia-backed separatists, some injured, walk on a snowy road in no man's land after being released by the Ukrainian military in a prisoner exchange, near the village of Zholobok, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Luhansk, Ukraine. Both warring sides in eastern Ukraine are perpetrating war crimes almost daily, including torturing prisoners and summarily killing them, the Amnesty International rights group said in a report Friday May 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Saturday Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, Ukrainian prisoners of war wait in line before a prisoner exchange in Russia-backed separatist controlled territory, near the village of Zholobok, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Luhansk, Ukraine. Both warring sides in eastern Ukraine are perpetrating war crimes almost daily, including torturing prisoners and summarily killing them, the Amnesty International rights group said in a report Friday May 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Saturday Feb. 21, 2015 file photo, Ukrainian prisoners of war wait in line before a prisoner exchange in Russia-backed separatist controlled territory, near the village of Zholobok, some 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of Luhansk, Ukraine. Both warring sides in eastern Ukraine are perpetrating war crimes almost daily, including torturing prisoners and summarily killing them, the Amnesty International rights group said in a report Friday May 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda, file) (The Associated Press)

Amnesty International says both warring sides in eastern Ukraine are almost daily perpetrating war crimes, including torture and summary killings of prisoners.

In a new report, the rights group said Friday it has heard accounts from former captives of government and separatist forces of savage beatings, torture with electric shocks, kicking and stabbings.

Amnesty says it interviewed 17 captives of the separatists and 16 others held by Ukrainian government forces for its report.

Concern about the treatment of prisoners comes as Ukrainian authorities face scrutiny this week for publicly parading two men they say were Russian soldiers captured while fighting alongside separatists.

Amnesty is urging U.N. agencies and experts to visit detention sites in Ukraine to meet those being held by both sides.