US reports to United Nations that Moscow has lists of Ukrainians 'to be killed or sent to camps' following a military occupation

 Russia plans to carry out a host of human rights abuses - including targeted killings, kidnappings, torture and forced disappearances - against ethnic minorities, gays and journalists after it invades Ukraine, according to a frantic letter penned to the UN Human Rights Commission.

US Ambassador to the UN Bathsheba Nell Crocker dashed off a one-page missive to UN High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet as an 'early warning' that the war in Eastern Europe would 'create a human rights catastrophe.'

 'I would like to bring to your attention disturbing information recently obtained by the United States that indicates that human rights violations and abuses in the aftermath of further invasion are being planned,' Crocker wrote in an undated letter that was first reported by the Washington Post.

Top US diplomat Bathsheba Nell Crocker said that gays, journalists and ethnic and religious minorities will be targeted for abuse if Russia invades Ukraine

Russian armored tanks painted with a letter 'Z' and huge convoys are moving towards the Ukraine border. It is suspected the markings have been allocated for specific roles amid rising tensions over an imminent invasion - as shelling rocked the east of the country 

Russia has amassed 190,000 troops on the border and U.S. intelligence reports indicated that President Vladimir Putin intends to invade

Abuses have already been documented in Crimea, which was invaded and annexed in 2014 and other parts of Russia controlled Ukraine.  '[We] have every reason to believe those concerns will multiply following a new military offensive,' she wrote. 

 Russia has amassed 190,000 troops on the border and U.S. intelligence reports indicated that President Vladimir Putin intends to invade.

UN Human Rights High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet was told that Russia plans torture, assassinations, kidnapping and imprisonment of targeted Ukrainians

Crocker said that Russia plans to target anyone who opposes their military intervention.

'These acts, which in past Russian operations have included targeted killings, kidnappings/forced disappearances, unjust detentions, and the use of torture, would likely target those who oppose Russian actions, including Russian and Belarussian dissidents in exile in Ukraine, journalists and anti-corruption activists, and vulnerable populations such as religious and ethnic minorities and LGBTQI+ persons,' Croker warned.

 She said that Russian operatives were creating lists of names of Ukrainians to be assassinated or sent to camps.

Peaceful protests from the civilian  population will be met with lethal force, the letter says.

More than 200 people - including civilians - are being held captive in the facilities found in eastern Ukraine, close to the Russian border, rights groups say.

The conflict known as the War in Donbas has raged since 2014 and left the former Soviet-state split, and has resulted in the death of more than 13,000 people and to roughly 1.1 million people fleeing their homes. 

Former nuclear bunkers in Ukraine have been used  by Putin-backed thugs to hold and torture, civil rights groups claim.

The prisoners are said to be subject to electric shocks, beatings with hammers and mutilations with surgical tools.

 Justice for Peace (JFP) in Donbas, an alliance of 17 Ukrainian human rights organizations and local media, claimed that a vicious torturer known as 'the Maniac' uses one of the dungeons as a torture playground.

The Maniac, whose real name is believed to be Serhiy Konoplytsky, is said to be the one who uses surgeons' tools on the prisoners, as well as a plastic pipe and a hammer to inflict savage beatings.

It is suspected the markings have been allocated for specific roles amid rising tensions over an imminent invasion, with footage showing the letters sprayed on tanks, self-propelled guns, fuel trucks and supply vehicles

A car bomb in Donetsk close to the Government House building at around 7pm on Saturday. It comes as 1,500 ceasefire violations were reported in east Ukraine in one day

A Russian and Belarussian convoy heading south via the Gomel region towards the border with Ukraine. 

 The Centre for Civil Liberties (CCL), based in Kyiv, told the Sun that there are currently 267 people locked up in these dungeons without facing any charges - including 226 civilians.

Tensions have escalated in the last week during Russia's steady military buildup along the Ukrainian border.

 Putin and his ally Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko extended military drills in Belarus that were due to end on Sunday, meaning an estimated 30,000 Russian troops will remain there.

 Ukraine has begged the West to act now and impose sanctions on Russia in response to sustained shelling by pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.