This thesis set out to analyse the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, specifically the issue of Russia seizing civilian prisoners. The analysis builds its foundation upon the writings of Mary Kaldor, and more precisely on her theoretical framework of ‘New War Theory’. To both understand the Russian objectives and test how well Kaldor’s framework explains the behaviour I set out to answer the research question of; What can be understood as the Russian objectives for taking civilian prisoners in the contemporary conflict with Ukraine, and to what extent do the findings fit within the framework of new war theory? Two operational questions were also utilised to guide the analysis further. Through the gathering of a varied ambit of sources, ranging from interviews to articles by other scholars I found that one could not conclusively argue that all of the criteria for the Russian conduct and proposed objectives fall within the frame of ‘New Wars’ as only the ‘goals’  and ‘methods’ bore a striking resemblance.