Ukraine claims to have found ‘places of torture’ used by Russians in Kherson

Ukrainian prosecutor’s office announced on Monday that it had found “torture sites” used by the Russians in Khersona city in southern Ukraine recaptured by Kyiv troops after nearly nine months of Russian occupation.

“In Kherson, the prosecutor’s office continues to establish Russia’s crimes,” the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office wrote on Telegram, saying officials found “places of torture” in “four buildings.”

Among the four buildings visited by the researchers are “centers pre-trial detention“since the pre-war period”, “where, during the capture of the city, the invaders illegally detained people and brutally tortured them,” the prosecutor’s office added.

Kherson was the first major city to fall into Russian hands after the 24 February invasion. Ukrainian army conquered the city, the capital of the region of the same name, on November 11.

Investigators seized “pieces of rubber truncheons, a wooden bat, a device with which the invaders used to kill civilians with electric current, an incandescent lamp and bullets,” the source explained.

“Works to establish places torture and illegal detentions of people continue,” said the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, which also wants to “identify all the victims.”

The Russian withdrawal, the third major since the invasion began, was a major setback for the president. Vladimir Putin.

Since he took back the city Kyiv repeatedly condemned the “crimes warand “atrocities” committed by the Russians in the region, one of four that Moscow annexed in September.

“Punish”

Russia has yet to respond to the allegations, but promised on Monday to “punish” those responsible for the alleged shooting of a group of Russian soldiers in Ukraine, exposed Moscow how “a crime war”.

Moscow was accused on Friday Ukraine about the execution of more than ten of their soldiers who laid down their arms, based on videos posted on social networks.

“Of course, Russia He will look for those responsible for this crime. They need to be found and punished,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

He added that Moscow will resort to international institutions for this, “if it can be useful.”

In the first video, about ten supposedly Russian soldiers emerge one after the other from the barn with their hands up. Then they lie face down on the ground under the command of supposedly Ukrainian soldiers who hold them at gunpoint.

The footage ends abruptly as another man emerges from the barn and appears to be shooting. Another drone video shows the same location with a dozen bodies of soldiers on the ground in pools of blood.

Commission parliament The Ukrainian Committee for Human Rights on Sunday denied reports that the Ukrainian army executed Russian prisoners of war.

According to this commission, the Ukrainian military defended itself against soldiers Russians They pretended to give up.

Russian soldier killed in this incident, “they cannot be considered prisoners of war,” said Ukrainian human rights activist Dmitry Lubinets.

United Nations He said last week that he was aware of the videos and was analyzing them. One report noted that there were credible allegations of violations committed by both parties.

AFP