Since the withdrawal of Russian troops, Ukraine has been investigating possible war crimes in the southern Ukrainian city. Hundreds of people are said to have been illegally detained and brutally tortured there in recent months. Now Kyiv says it has discovered four torture sites disguised as public buildings.
Ukrainian investigators have discovered four torture sites used by the Russian occupiers in Kherson. They identified a total of four buildings in which the “Russian occupiers illegally detained and brutally tortured people,” said the general public prosecutor’s office in Kyiv.
During their eight-month occupation of Cherson, Russian forces set up “pseudo-law enforcement agencies” in previous detention centers and police stations. There, “parts of rubber truncheons, a wooden bat, a device for generating electric shocks as well as a light bulb and bullets were seized”. The Russian authorities also left behind documents on the administration of these prison camps. Investigations into other torture sites and unlawful detentions are ongoing, it said. The aim is also to “identify all victims”.
Since the liberation of Kherson by Ukrainian forces on November 11, Kyiv has repeatedly denounced Russian “war crimes” and “atrocities” in the region. A Kherson resident recounted his weeks of detention, during which he was beaten and electrocuted by Russian and pro-Russian forces. Moscow has so far not responded to the allegations.