According to official information, Ukrainian investigators have found a total of 22 torture sites in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine. There would be ten in the city of Isjum alone. Torture is used in schools and kindergartens, among other places. City dwellers report being beaten with metal bars and electric shocks. “They beat me to a pulp,” said Oleksandr Glushko, one of the victims.
The war has left visible marks in the region as residents gather in front of apartment blocks in Izyum, Ukraine, to charge their cellphones with a generator. There is still no electricity. Isjum is badly damaged after heavy fighting, reports the German news channel Tagesschau. The whole horror of the Russian occupation is becoming more and more visible in the city.
“They just threw me in the bushes”
These six months, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, have also been a time of torture and betrayal. Oleksandr Glushko, a resident of Izyum, told the news channel how Russian soldiers tortured him twice. The first time, the torture is said to have lasted five days: “They beat me to a pulp. Then they just dragged me across the street and threw me in the bushes.”
Thank goodness a woman passed by the crime scene and helped him. Glushko was taken to hospital. There was only one doctor working at the time. The injured Ukrainian was treated in hospital and registered under a false name to protect him from Russian soldiers. Because apparently the Ukrainian, who was a soldier in eastern Ukraine from 2018 to 2020, has been betrayed. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know who it may have been.
Schools and kindergartens as torture sites
Russian soldiers are looking for enemies who will help the Ukrainian army in the fight against the Russian troops. Glushko’s case is therefore not an isolated one: so far a total of 22 torture sites have been discovered in the Kharkov region. According to research by the AP news agency, there are ten in Isjum alone. Basements, schools, kindergartens or police stations – torture was everywhere.
Not everyone survived the torture methods
The police chief of the Kharkiv region, Volodymyr Timoshko, said on Ukrainian television that in some cases people were even taken to Russia to be tortured and then returned. Victims who survived the torture tell Ukrainian media that they have been transferred from one city to another in the region. Those affected report the same torture methods: beatings with metal bars, electric shocks, mock executions, waterboarding (simulated drowning, comment). Not all survived.
According to Ukrainian authorities, traces of torture were found on 30 of the more than 400 bodies buried in a forest near Izyum. Handcuffed hands, broken bones, gunshot wounds and stab wounds.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
