A resident of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region said that during the occupation he was tortured by FSB officers in order to find out the names and addresses of ATO participants, territorial defense fighters and residents holding a pro-Ukrainian position. A video with his testimonies was published by the Security Service of Ukraine.
According to the man, the security forces interrogated him and tried to find out who in the city was for Ukraine and who was against it. “Whoever you know, whom you can hand over, tell us where he lives, who remained, who is for Ukraine, who is in the defense. They threatened: you will see a peaceful sky only in a minefield, along with a dog, who is the first, you or the dog,” he said.
A resident of Kupyansk said that he was shot with a pistol, he does not know whether it was gas or pneumatic, because he had a bag on his head. “They beat me with a bat or pipes. When it hurts a lot and you scream, they also beat you for screaming,” he told the SBU officer.
The man claims that other detainees had "German crosses" burned on their bodies with a soldering iron.
According to the SBU, every resident of Kupyansk who was interrogated went through such torture.
After the retreat of Russian troops from most of the Kharkiv region, residents of the liberated settlements began to talk about the conditions in which they lived for half a year of occupation. Many accuse the Russian military of killings, torture and inhuman treatment.
On September 12, the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported that the bodies of four civilians with signs of torture were found in the village of Zaliznichnoye, Kharkiv region.
Residents of Balakleya said that a prison was equipped in the city, where about 40 people were kept. Those who served in the Ukrainian troops or whose relatives served there were imprisoned there. According to Sergey Bolvinov, the head of the Kharkiv Region Investigation Department, one man who had a photo of his brother in Ukrainian military uniform found by the Russian military spent 46 days in prison.
Balakleya resident Artem told the BBC that he spent 40 days in prison and was tortured with electric shocks.