More Reports Suggest Russia is Torturing and Killing Local Politicians – Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, residential buildings have been the target of Russian military personnel – but over the last week, increasing evidence and reports suggest that Russian troops are murdering and torturing innocent civilians in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Attorney General’s Office said that a Russian torture chamber was recently discovered in the basement of a children’s health facility in the town of Bucha, where footage and photographs have shown dead civilians lying in the street.
The bodies of five men were discovered in the basement, all with their hands tied behind their backs. According to the prosecutor general, there was evidence that the men were tortured.
Photographs of the victims were also shared online.
The claim was made on the official Telegram account of the Office of the Ukrainian Attorney General. Telegram channels have been widely used to share information without censorship, including disturbing photographs and videos of civilian victims of Russian aggression.
The post described how the chamber was discovered as prosecutors began investigations into possible war crimes committed by Russian troops in the capital city of Kiev. In recent days, Russian troops have increasingly moved out of Kiev, allowing investigators to more easily investigate sites formerly used by Russian troops.
Russian soldiers are also believed to have killed at least 400 residents of Bucha as they withdrew from the region over the last week.
Ukraine Village Mayor Reportedly Kidnapped, Tortured, and Killed
The bodies of the Mayor of the Ukrainian village Motzhyn, her husband, and her son were reportedly discovered in a shallow grave over the weekend.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said that Mayor Olga Sukhenko was killed in captivity by the Russians.
“This is a war crime,” Vereschuk said. “The guilty will inevitably be punished in accordance with international humanitarian law.
According to the Ukrainian deputy PM, 11 mayors and community leaders are still in Russian captivity across the country, and that the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations are being made aware of the situation.
Shocking photographs of the bodies of Mayor Sukhenko and her husband circulated on social media platforms in recent days. The photographs also showed the adult couple with their son, Oleksandr, lying dead in a pit behind three houses that Russian troops had turned into barracks outside of the village. A number of other bodies were buried nearby.
According to a local resident who spoke to The Associated Press, the family was killed execution-style with a gun to the back of the head.
Jack Buckby is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
