A Ukrainian soldier with a Cuban father appeared before the UN Security Council this Monday to recount the 1,183 days he spent as a prisoner of war in Russian hands, where he claimed to have endured torture and particularly brutal treatment due to his Cuban heritage.
Khuan Alberto Leyva Garsiya, 27 years old, was born in Mariupol, the son of a Ukrainian mother and a Cuban father. He was captured in May 2022 when the last defenders of the Azovstal steelworks laid down their arms after weeks of resistance against the Russian siege of the city.
According to a report by Associated Press, his captors initially suspected that he might be a foreign mercenary due to his Cuban background. They also considered him a possible American spy because he had studied at a university in the United States.
But his connection to Cuba ultimately took on a different meaning for his jailers, as he recounted before the United Nations.
"The Russians were outraged that someone with a connection to Cuba, whom they consider an ally, would fight against their occupying army," declared Leyva Garsiya.
The soldier claimed that during more than three years of captivity, he was subjected to beatings, electric shocks, exposure to extremely low temperatures, and sexual abuse.
He also recounted that some of the men he shared captivity with did not survive.
"Two of my friends were beaten to death in detention centers in the Donetsk region. Two of my friends died due to the conditions they were subjected to in Russian prisons and were returned home in plastic bags," he stated.
He emerged from captivity weighing 55 kilograms
When he was finally released in August 2025, Leyva Garsiya weighed just 55 kilograms.
Before the members of the Security Council, he displayed a photograph of his visibly deteriorated body after captivity, as testimony to the conditions he claimed to have endured for 1,183 days.
His story takes on a unique dimension due to his connection with Cuba.
While many Cuban citizens have ended up fighting alongside the Russians in the invasion of Ukraine, Leyva Garsiya was born and raised in Ukrainian territory and decided to defend the country of his birth.
The Ukrainian project "I Want to Live" claimed to have identified more than 1,000 Cubans enlisted in the Russian army, a participation that has also raised international concerns about the networks used to recruit citizens from the island.
In the case of Leyva Garsiya, according to his own testimony, the exact opposite occurred: his Cuban heritage reportedly made him a target for his Russian captors, who regarded Cuba as an allied country.
The European Parliament had already condemned in July 2025 the recruitment and deployment of Cuban citizens to participate in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Havana government, for its part, has officially denied any involvement in these recruitment networks.
More than 95% report torture
Leyva Garsiya's appearance took place during an informal meeting of the Security Council convened by Latvia and the United Kingdom to draw attention to the situation of civilians and military personnel captured during the war that began with the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Claudia Fuentes Julio, Assistant Secretary-General of the UN for Human Rights, presented figures during the meeting that illustrate the magnitude of the reports.
More than 16,000 civilians detained by Russia remain "deprived of their freedom," while over 95% of interviewed Ukrainian prisoners of war reported suffering torture.
The United Nations has also documented the execution of 129 Ukrainian prisoners of war at the beginning of their captivity and the death of another 48 while they remained in custody.
Russia rejected the accusations
The Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, María Zabolótskaya, described the session as part of "a misinformation campaign against Russia, funded by NATO countries involved in the conflict in Ukraine."
Leyva Garsiya was released in a swap that allowed for the return of 33 military personnel and 51 civilians, and he currently remains a part of the Ukrainian army.
The Deputy Ambassador of Ukraine to the United Nations, Volodymyr Pavlichenko, stated that during the meeting, the Russian delegation showed no willingness to negotiate the return of prisoners of war, "including their own prisoners of war."
After more than three years of captivity, Leyva Garsiya's testimony presented to the United Nations revealed one of the paradoxes of his story: being the son of a Cuban did not bring him closer to those who see Havana as an ally; rather, he alleged that his background became yet another reason to punish him while he remained imprisoned.
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