"We heard people screaming": in Kharkiv region, Russian occupiers set up a torture chamber for Ukrainian servicemen in a private house

The prosecutor’s office of Kharkiv oblast assumes that in the village of Pisky-Radkivski the occupiers tortured captured soldiers. The body of a killed Ukrainian soldier was found next to a once private house that became a place for abuse. Locals also say they saw soldiers being brought there with bags on their heads.

Residents of the village of Pisky-Radkivski, Kharkiv oblast, told the Slidstvo.Info journalists about the torture chamber that the Russian military arranged near the House of Culture.

“HEARD THE SOUNDS OF BEATING AND SCREAMS”

The torture chamber in the village is located opposite the House of Culture. On this street, Russians lived in several houses left by the residents of Pisky-Radkivski who fled the war.

Tetiana lived next door to the Russian military with her elderly mother and 9-year-old daughter.

“Russians were here, Buryats, Dagestanis, Asians. And we existed here among them. Everyone treated us well. Thank God, we did not meet inadequate people,” says Tetiana.

Tetiana, a resident of Pisky-Radkivski village

At the same time, the woman says she heard the sounds of beating and screams from the neighboring yard.

“Prisoners of war were kept here. They brought them with bags on their heads. They kept them here for some time. We heard… They were saying: “We’re going to kill marauders according to the ancient Cossack custom”. We heard screams and sounds of beating. But we do not know who they were actually beating there,” the woman assures.

Tetiana says that as soon as new prisoners were brought, she would go inside the house and close the windows and doors to not hear anything.

One of the prisoners, locals assume, was tortured to death by Russians and buried near the house.

Valeriy, a resident of Pisky-Radkivski village

“They covered him with earth and that’s all, about half a meter. They buried him and wrote “Private of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. We reburied him properly later,” says Valeriy, a resident of the village.

After the liberation of the village, on September 24, the body of the soldier was taken by law enforcement officers for examination and identification, the man adds.

“THEY KNEW WHERE TO LOOK”

A former soldier and a resident of the village of Pisky-Radkivski Illia also had to visit the torture chamber. However, the occupiers took him to Borova (a neighboring village – ed.). The man is convinced that he was handed over to the Russians by locals.

“They clearly came to the houses and knew where to look. My documents were hidden in different places, but they found them all. They also found flags of Ukraine of the 92nd Brigade, where I served,” says Illia.

The man almost lost his eyesight after the injury he received at the battlefield. Despite his explanations to the Russians that he was taking care of his mother, who could hardly move on her own, the Russian military severely beat Illia, tied him up and took him away.

“Well, in Borova they beat me even harder. I don’t even want to talk about it. They also tied my hands and put a bag on my head,” the man recalls.

After the beating and interrogation, Illia and several other villagers were released home in the evening of the same day. However, neither documents nor personal belongings were returned.

“The documents for registration of the first group of disability were also taken away. I collected them, but did not have time to submit them. I can’t imagine how to restore it all again now,” the man complains.

“THE FIRE SPOTTER IS THE HEAD OF THE VILLAGE”

Russians terrorized everyone involved in the Armed Forces or law enforcement agencies in the village, says Anatoliy, a local resident. A few days before the liberation, they came to him, because they found out that his son was serving in the Ukrainian army.

Anatoliy, a resident of Pisky-Radkivski village

“They must have left me for a snack. I denied as best I could that I had not seen my son for 7 years. They gathered around me in a circle. But I was really not afraid anymore, I told them “if something happens, do not beat me, but shoot me right away”. It got to the point that they got tired of me and they said that I was sick in the head and left,” the man says.

Anatoliy says that finally he asked the Russian military who told about him. The man assures that the occupiers pointed to the head of the village – Vira Solovyova.

The Slidstvo.Info journalists found out that Vira Solovyova came to local politics with the “Party of Regions” (the party of the former pro-Russian president Yanukovych who fled the country in 2014 – transl.). Since 2015, the woman was the village head from the pro-Russian party “Vidrodzhennya”. Now, according to Anatoliy, the head of the village fled to Russia with her family.

“She left here with her family: either to Belgorod oblast or somewhere else in Russia… There were many representatives of the “Russian world” here. I don’t feel sorry for them, these sh*theads. Let them go, the air will be cleaner,” the man says.

The video has English subtitles.