Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and National Police have gathered evidence against a Russian medic allegedly involved in torturing Ukrainian prisoners of war. The suspect is Ilya Sorokin, a paramedic at the medical unit of Penal Colony No. 10 in the Republic of Mordovia whom former captives nicknamed “Dr. Evil,” the SBU said in a statement.
Ukrainian investigators determined that Sorokin systematically tortured POWs with an electric shock device and deprived them of painkillers, bandages, and necessary treatments.
“Based on the collected evidence, [the SBU's] investigators have issued an indictment against Sorokin for part 1 of article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes, cruel treatment of prisoners of war),” the statement read.
Sorokin’s identity was established earlier this year by journalists from Skhemy (lit. “Schemes”), a project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Ukrainian Service. Based on testimony from more than 150 former prisoners, the reporters said Sorokin beat Ukrainian detainees, threatened them with sexualized violence, and refused to provide them with medical care. In at least one case, the denial of treatment resulted in death: after the body of Ukrainian serviceman Volodymyr Yukhymenko was repatriated, he was found to have pneumonia, multiple fractures, and internal bleeding.
Sorokin had worked since 2018 at Medical Unit No. 13, which serves Penal Colony No. 10 in Mordovia. In late 2024, he left to join the army, where he took the callsign “Doctor.”