Nearly two months after Russian forces withdrew from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, local authorities say they discovered torture chambers located in a former regional police headquarters.
Pro-Ukraine civilians were locked up there and tortured for days.
Abuse and sexual assault were allegedly inflicted there.
“There is enough information to prove that people were detained here and that the Russians used electricity or even gas masks blocking the air supply to torture them.
The detainees were also deprived of food, sleep… and were violently beaten,” explains Andriy Kovanniy, head of public relations for the Ukrainian National Guard.
On site, there are now only ransacked personal effects strewn on the floor, a solitary chair in a dark room in the cellar and the Russian anthem or messages to the glory of the Kremlin written on the walls.
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Among these tortured civilians, Anatoly Stozkiï, 50, recounts how he was detained twice by Russian and pro-Russian services.
This father, a political strategist working in an NGO, says he was tied up, beaten and electrocuted for several weeks.
The reason for his detention?
His integration into a unit of the Ukrainian territorial defense force on February 24, at the start of the Russian invasion.
"They knew about beatings," says Anatoly, who details how his captors "attached electrical terminals" to his fingers to electrocute him.
"I even thought about killing myself," he says.
There were pieces of glass and rusty nails in the cell where I was detained.
But thinking of the family, I said to myself that I could bear anything”.