Ukraine Confirms Russia Committed Torture in Kherson

Ukrainian soldiers are looking at the war-damaged Kherson International Airport in Chornobaivka, southern Kherson, Ukraine.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Ukraine claimed to have confirmed that torture was carried out in Kherson after the Russian military withdrew.

On the 21st (local time), the Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office stated in a press release, "We investigated four facilities where the Russian military illegally detained people and brutally tortured them." It was reported that rubber batons, wooden bats, incandescent lamps, and electric torture devices were found at these facilities.

Kherson is the capital of Kherson Province, a strategic key point connecting the Crimean Peninsula, forcibly annexed by Russia in 2014, and the eastern Donbas region controlled by pro-Russian separatists by land. Russia annexed Kherson Province along with other occupied territories such as Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia as Russian territory at the end of September, but Ukraine succeeded in recapturing Kherson on the 11th after eight months.

Since then, Ukraine dispatched a 'War Crimes Investigation Team' consisting of seven groups to Kherson to begin collecting evidence of atrocities committed by the Russian military. As a result, four locations presumed to have been used to detain and torture civilians were discovered. The Ukrainian Prosecutor's Office also reported that documents showing the Russian military managed these places were found.

On the 18th, researchers from Yale University reported that during the eight months Kherson was occupied by the Russian military, 226 Ukrainians were detained or went missing. The researchers explained that about one-quarter of them are presumed to have been tortured.