Russian prisons are being found in areas recaptured by the Ukrainian army, such as the village of Shevchenkove in the Kharkiv region.
ADVERTISEMENTUkrainian troops in the newly liberated areas of the Kharkiv region have discovered hidden Russian prison cells underground. One such discovery was found in the village of Shevchenkove.
The cells are described as "cold and dark" – and the Ukrainian army continues to uncover these chambers. Ukraine's prosecutor's office members are now being deployed to investigate them in search of answers.
“We have found confirmed proof of torture taking place. Civilians were tortured here, as well as Russian deserters,” says Roman Oleksandrovych, a Ukrainian public prosecutor.
“What were they charged with?” the reporter asks. “They didn’t want to collaborate with the Russian Federation,” Oleksandrovych responds.
Missing people has been a common theme in Kharkiv
Neither the number nor the fate of those who were imprisoned in these underground cells is clear, but there were some locals whom no one ever saw again.
Constantin, a Shevchenkove resident says he saw a man driving toward Russian troops.
“He showed them a Ukrainian flag. They stopped him and fired shots in the air. They got into the car with him and drove off. We don’t know where he is now.”
The successful counteroffensive launched by the Ukrainian Army at the beginning of the month has shed light on what happened in the Kharkiv region while it was occupied by Russian troops.
And not only underground prisons have been discovered. Ten days after finding hundreds of graves in a forest in Izium, the Ukrainian Army came across another alleged mass grave with more than 100 bodies in a town near the border with Russia.