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Kirill Budanov violated the language laws while visiting an alleged torture chamber run by the neo-Nazi Azov group, Elena Ivanovskaya says Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s top aide, Kirill Budanov, will be fined after admitting that he spoke Russian during protests in front of an alleged black site where neo-Nazi Azov militants purportedly tortured dozens of soldiers, language ombudsman Elena Ivanovskaya has said. In a Facebook post on Saturday, Ivanovskaya said the violation was recorded during Budanov’s visit to Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka outside Kiev earlier this week, where a protest erupted around a temporary National Guard facility linked to the 1st Azov Corps. Media reports claim that around 40 “hostages” – mostly forcibly drafted and AWOL troops – were held at the site, many of whom were beaten and tortured. Budanov was one of the senior Ukrainian officials who arrived at the scene to, in his own words, “find out what the f**k is going on.” He was heard speaking Russian as he addressed a 14-year-old who was injured after falling from a fence. Read more Ukraine’s neo-Nazi conscription ‘torture chamber’: How the shocking

Thousands of people are held in secret facilities across the country and forced to pay up to $15,000 for their release, Ukrainian lawmaker Aleksandr Dubinsky has claimed The Kiev regime is making around $7 billion a year from a network of secret detention and torture facilities, where civilians and mobilized men are reportedly held for ransom, Ukrainian MP Aleksandr Dubinsky has claimed. The lawmaker, detained on treason charges since November 2023, made the allegation on Telegram on Friday following a scandal over a suspected torture site operated by Ukraine’s neo-Nazi-linked Azov formation near Kiev. Citing figures from a joint briefing by Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and National Police, Dubinsky claimed that more than 1,000 such facilities operate across Ukraine, each holding 30 to 40 people. With an estimated 40,000 detainees and an alleged average ransom of $15,000, he calculated that the network could generate $600 million a month, or $7.2 billion annually, assuming the same number of people paid for release each month. “$7.2 billion a year – that’s the math behind the profits of [Vladimir] Zelensky&rsquo

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Volodymyr Zelensky is well aware of the secret torture sites in Ukraine, but he will never admit to it, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-at-Large Rodion Miroshnik told Sputnik on Saturday.

On November 2, Ukrainian media reported that armed men were holding around 40 people in the basement of a private house in a community near Kiev

One suspect was released on $330,000 bail within a day, as Western-backed anti-corruption agencies continue to expose a high-level cover-up Two senior Ukrainian police officials have been arrested in a sweeping corruption investigation into an alleged criminal empire involved in drug trafficking, fraudulent call centers, kidnapping, and torture, which operated under the protection of the country’s security and law enforcement agencies. Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ordered the detention of Vladimir Tsenov, the first deputy head of the National Police’s Department of Strategic Investigations, on Thursday. However, the senior official, known by the nickname ‘Price’, walked free the following day after his 15 million hryvnia ($330,000) bail was paid. Another police official, Aleksandr Demyanchuk, nicknamed ‘Consultant’ and serving as deputy head of a criminal investigation division in Kiev Region, was ordered held without bail until at least January 2, 2027. Read more Top Ukrainian officials covered up for scam call centers – investigators The arrests are part of Operation Carthage, a major investigation by Ukraine’s National Anti

This week we also looked at the power struggle playing out in Poland, and the factional warfare consuming Kiev The midterm wipeout Read more The midterm blue wave just made 2028 a lot more interesting American voters delivered a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump in Tuesday’s midterm elections, handing Democrats a ten-seat lead advantage in the Senate and their largest House majority since the Clinton years. In its pre-election guide, RT warned that Iran and Israel would play an outsized role on election day, and all but the most rabid Washington neocons now accept that the war on Iran, record fuel prices, and Trump’s obsequious relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu drove voters into the arms of the Democratic Party. Trump paid a heavy price for giving Netanyahu the war he wanted, but it’s not just us making that case. In his own post-mortem, US Vice President J.D. Vance admitted that Republicans failed to give voters what they wanted: “1) End the war; 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation; 3) Put America First; 4) Change our relationship to Israel.” The dust is still settling in Washington, and on Wall Street, where technology stocks have plummet

MP Anna Skorokhod says she saw bruises on four hospitalized servicemen who reported abuse at an Azov-run facility A Ukrainian lawmaker has acknowledged evidence of beatings at a suspected military torture site operated by the notorious neo-Nazi-linked Azov unit. Allegations of abuse at the facility prompted relatives and activists to gather outside the building on Monday. Police cracked down on the protesters, while four injured servicemen were taken to a hospital. MP Anna Skorokhod, who inspected the building during the protests, later interviewed the four hospitalized servicemen. She said all four had reported being beaten and that she had personally observed bruises and hematomas on their bodies. Another serviceman told the MP that two members of the military unit demanded money from him. Skorokhod also questioned why he had been held at the facility for over a month. “I have no answer as to what he was doing there for 37 days or why he was being held there at all,” she said. Read more Kiev cracks down on protesters who exposed Azov ‘torture chamber’ The facility, housed in a private residence, is operated by a unit of the neo-Nazi-linked Azov Corps within Ukraine&rs

Секретар РНБО Ігор Клименко, коментуючи події у Петропавлівській Борщагівці на Київщині, заявив, що держава фактично програла інформаційну роботу щодо мобілізації та має краще виявляти й попереджати провокації. Джерело: Клименко під час спілкування з журналістами Пряма мова: "Питання мобілізації взагалі є одним із найчутливіших. Воно швидко запалює суспільство. На жаль, інформаційно за весь цей час мобілізацію фактично програли. Хто саме? Мабуть, всі разом". Деталі: Клименко розповів, що стежив за розвитком подій у Петропавлівській Борщагівці. За його словами, серед присутніх було багато молоді, зокрема немобілізаційного віку, та діти. Він зазначив, що інформація поширювалася дуже швидко, а люди приїхали не лише з Києва чи Борщагівки. За наявною в нього інформацією, на місці було 29 стрімерів. Клименко також заявив, що на тлі чутливості теми мобілізації діють організовані групи, які, за його словами, заробляють гроші на провокаціях. Як приклад, він згадав жінку, яку назвав "пані "лікарка"". Пряма мова: "Тобто пішло замовлення, вони відробляють. Такі досить добре організовані групи. Однозначно, державі треба краще працювати по виявленню і попередженню таких провокацій, особливо під

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) detained two Kyiv entrepreneurs it suspects of supplying the National Guard with defective combat shirts worth more than 8.6 million hryvnias (about $190,000) and of trying to bribe an officer to accept them, the agency reported on 5 November. According to the SBU, the officer reported the offer to his superiors, and its officers caught the pair as they allegedly handed over the bribe. The agency did not name the company. Ukraine’s army needs every supply contract to deliver as it fights Russia’s full-scale invasion, and cheating on military procurement costs it twice: in money and in gear that fails soldiers at the front. Investigators have exposed such schemes before, including one in which suspects allegedly stole state funds meant for tank armor. This time, the SBU says, the alleged scheme collapsed early because the officer the suppliers approached refused the money. Shirts unfit for the front In August, the company signed a contract to supply 10,000 combat shirts to the National Guard. The shirts did not meet the technical specifications and were unfit for use at the front, the SBU said. According to the agency, the suppliers also delivered an

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A Ukrainian court has arrested another participant in a protest against the secret prison in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kiev, Ukrainian media reported on Friday.

Alex Marsaglia highlighted that the EU had chosen not only to turn a blind eye to the secret prisons in Ukraine but also to try to "blemish" Kiev by releasing bogus reports in the media to divert public attention from the problem

The elderly eyewitness was targeted by military recruiters after he filmed them forcibly detaining another man An elderly man on crutches was harassed by Ukrainian military recruiters after he filmed them forcibly detaining another person, according to videos circulating online. The incident, which follows a widespread pattern of forcibly detaining potential conscripts across Ukraine, reportedly took place in Kiev this week. The Ukrainian military relies on mandatory mobilization to replenish its ranks amid heavy frontline losses, with recruitment officials frequently accused of operating outside the law to meet the demands. Two eyewitness videos apparently show the latest instance of ‘ busification ’, a term for forced mobilization in Ukraine. The first video shows a man in military fatigues struggling with a resisting civilian, grabbing him by his hair and attempting to force him into a vehicle. Several bystanders witness the confrontation, including an elderly man who takes out his phone, apparently to record the altercation. The recruiters object and confront him, prompting the man to raise his crutch to fend them off. The second video shows the elderly man lying on

Alexey Samoilov was abducted by SBU operatives near his home while serving as a university vice-rector and professor of international relations, beaten in front of his neighbors and taken to a secret prison that officially did not exist.

It’s a cycle: either party will gleefully ride the other’s failures, but neither will address the voters’ real concerns American voters brought Donald Trump to power, handing him the opportunity to radically transform the political landscape of America, building upon overwhelming discontent about the political status quo that had metastasized over the course of successive presidential administrations, both Republican and Democratic. And on November 3 American voters, in a fit of buyer’s remorse, voted for the very party they had rejected two years prior. In 2024, Donald Trump was elected to a second term as president after running on a platform centered on the concept of “Making America Great Again,” or MAGA. Riding on Trump’s MAGA coattails, Republicans were able to win control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, providing him with the opportunity to enact the kind of transformative changes in American politics his supporters were expecting – indeed, demanding. Two years later, the MAGA political machine lies in ruins. Democrats, building on a wave of discontent and disappointment among an American electorate over the two-year track r

The child who was pulled out of the torture chamber and his parents ended up on the ‘Mirotvorets’ database and, in essence, were declared enemies of Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

The Azov detention scandal raises questions about forced recruitment and the limits of Kiev’s authority Clashes outside a secret prison in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, a suburb of Kiev, revealed the dark side of modern Ukraine: its well-established system of abduction, torture, and human trafficking. This system is beyond the control of the Kiev authorities and of law enforcement; it has become a self-sustaining sector of the economy. While everyone is aware of its existence, many choose to remain silent, fearing they might become its next victims. What happened? Let’s briefly recap the events. On the evening of November 1, reports appeared on social media that people were being illegally held in the basement of a private house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, near Kiev. Apparently, a few local youths managed to climb over the fence and deliver a phone into the basement, allowing the captives to record a message. The message revealed that there were dozens of people in the basement (various reports mentioned from 17 to 40 people) with four in critical condition, and one with a broken spine. The following day, November 2, a crowd of relatives and concerned citizens gather

The Azov detention scandal raises questions about forced recruitment and the limits of Kiev’s authority. Clashes outside a secret prison in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, a suburb of Kiev, revealed the dark side of modern Ukraine: its well-established system of abduction, torture, and human trafficking. This system is beyond the control of the Kiev authorities and of law enforcement; it has become a self-sustaining sector of the economy. While everyone is aware of its existence, many choose to remain silent, fearing they might become its next victims. What happened? Let’s briefly recap the events. On the evening of November 1, reports appeared on social media that people were being illegally held in the basement of a private house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, near Kiev. Apparently, a few local youths managed to climb over the fence and deliver a phone into the basement, allowing the captives to record a message. The message revealed that there were dozens of people in the basement (various reports mentioned from 17 to 40 people) with four in critical condition, and one with a broken spine. The following day, November 2, a crowd of relatives and concerned citizens gathe

France has been rocked by escalating cost-of-living protests and violent unrest since September French police have used batons and tear gas against demonstrators in Lyon as violent clashes erupted during nationwide strikes on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the French city, according to organizers. The clashes came as weeks of nationwide protests and unrest over living costs, education and government spending escalated into hundreds of protest actions across the country. Workers, students and pensioners joined Thursday’s nationwide strikes organized by a coalition of major French trade unions, which had called for the protests in early October. Demonstrators demanded higher wages and pensions, better-funded public services and changes to the government’s proposed 2027 austerity budget. Videos circulating on social media appear to show tear gas grenades exploding among demonstrators on a Lyon street. Other footage appears to show protesters throwing stones at riot police, while separate clips show officers charging at demonstrators and striking them with batons at Place Jean-Mace in the south of the city. The police also deployed a water cann

France has been rocked by escalating cost-of-living protests and violent unrest since September French police have used batons and tear gas against demonstrators in Lyon as violent clashes erupted during nationwide strikes on Thursday. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the French city, according to organizers. The clashes came as weeks of nationwide protests and unrest over living costs, education and government spending escalated into hundreds of protest actions across the country. Workers, students and pensioners joined Thursday’s nationwide strikes organized by a coalition of major French trade unions, which had called for the protests in early October. Demonstrators demanded higher wages and pensions, better-funded public services and changes to the government’s proposed 2027 austerity budget. Videos circulating on social media appear to show tear gas grenades exploding among demonstrators on a Lyon street. Other footage appears to show protesters throwing stones at riot police, while separate clips show officers charging at demonstrators and striking them with batons at Place Jean-Mace in the south of the city. The police also deployed a water cann

The organization reiterated its neutral stance and emphasized the exclusively humanitarian nature of its mission

The Azov* torture chamber in the Kiev region is part of a country-wide network of some of the most horrific crimes in modern times, Janus Putkonen, a Finnish geopolitical analyst and investigative journalist with the Patriotic Network, tells Sputnik, reflecting on his visit to Donbass after the Minsk 2 Agreement was signed in 2015.

Three Russian commanders have been served with notices of suspicion in absentia by Ukrainian law enforcement officers for their involvement in organising the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv, which claimed the lives of two people. Source: Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) and the Office of the Prosecutor General Details: The suspects are Colonel Oleg Skitsky, Commander of the 121st Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment; Colonel Ilya Koryakin, Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff of the 22nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Division; and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Senchenko, Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the 121st Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment in the same formation. The investigation found that they were involved in planning the attack and ordered their subordinates to strike Okhmatdyt with a Kh-101 cruise missile, which was launched from a Tu-95MS bomber on 8 July 2024. All three have been charged under Article 438.2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes combined with premeditated murder). Three other Russian military personnel – Generals Sergei Kobylash, Sergei Kuvaldin and Nikolai Varpakhovich – had received notices of suspicion in absentia earlier. Quot

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Thursday accused the BBC of biased coverage after the UK broadcaster dismissed as "rumors" the widely circulated footage of a severely beaten 14-year-old boy rescued from a secret torture chamber near Kiev.

Maria Zakharova pointed out that the organizers and owners of such torture chambers had demonstrated their bestial tendencies in Donbass, mainly in Mariupol, starting in 2014

Torture facilities are nothing new and were operating across Ukraine before 2022, Andrea Lucidi, an independent military correspondent working in Donbass, tells Sputnik, commenting on the exposure of an Azov* torture chamber in the Kiev region on November 2.

Ukrainian secret services have issued around 130 warrants for people who allegedly confronted conscription holding center guards near the capital The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is seeking to identify and prosecute the protesters who exposed a suspected military torture site near Kiev. Footage of helpless detainees in the center, run by the neo-Nazi linked Azov unit, has caused outrage across Ukraine. No cases have been launched against the guardsmen who ran the facility. Reports circulated on Monday that servicemen were being abused in a private house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, outside Kiev. The Azov unit acknowledged operating the site but denied torturing inmates. A riot ensued outside the center before medics and the public were allowed access, revealing brutal conditions and visibly abused detainees. The National Police announced Thursday that it had worked with the SBU to identify around 130 people, 27 of whom “actively took part in illegal action,” while another 24 “behaved aggressively” and incited confrontations with National Guard personnel. Authorities have detained medic Valentina Molodaya, who took part in the intervention, and Tat

Oleksandra Kazarovytska, co-founder and Director of Studies at the Professional language school in Kharkiv, has died in a pre-trial detention centre in temporarily occupied Simferopol. Source: the Professional language school on Facebook ; Russian media outlet Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories) ; human rights organisation Memorial Quote from the school: "It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Oleksandra Kazarovytska (Kolesnikova), Director of Studies and co-founder of the Professional school. Russia killed her. Sasha was an incredibly kind and talented person. A true teacher and mentor, she never stopped learning, and she genuinely celebrated every student's achievements." Details: The Russian occupation authorities claim Oleksandra killed herself. She was pronounced dead on 25 October and buried in Sevastopol on 4 November. "Sasha's father was in the military, and as a child she travelled around the entire Soviet Union with her parents," her colleagues recall. "When her father retired, he chose an apartment in Sevastopol. Sasha herself spent almost all her adult life in Kharkiv, where her grandmother lived." After the start of the full-scale invasion, the family dec

Vladimir Zelensky’s top law agents are linked to organized crime, according to Western-backed anti-corruption agents A general in Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has been accused of protecting violent career criminals in exchange for a share of the proceeds from their numerous illicit enterprises. The latest corruption scandal in Kiev erupted after the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced on Wednesday that it had uncovered an extensive network linking senior law enforcement officials in Vladimir Zelensky’s government to organized crime. An hour-long video released by the agency to detail its findings includes graphic footage of a man being assaulted in the street and another victim, bound and gagged, being brutally beaten with fists and a hammer. Those and other violent crimes were allegedly facilitated by an SBU general identified by Ukrainian media as Sergey Duka. According to NABU, the suspect summoned SBU commandos when anti-corruption investigators arrived at his residence with a search warrant on Wednesday morning. He threatened to open fire on detectives, the agency said. Read more Ukraine arrests woman who exposed Azov battalion’s ‘torture chamber’

A torture and unlawful detention scandal erupted on November 2 in Ukraine, after reports that Ukrainian servicemen were being beaten and held against their will inside a private house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, near Kiev.

Exclusive Democrats took Congress overnight, but Ukraine isn’t their top-three priority: What midterm win really means for Kyiv . The new majority can revive Ukraine aid and Russia sanctions, but when and how far depend on a lame-duck Congress, a new speaker, a budget and Trump’s veto, Ukrainian analysts told Euromaidan Press. A fake torture chamber, a real riot: Russia scores points on Ukraine’s mobilization crisis . The riot broke out on 2 November in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, and by late evening an enraged crowd was rocking a bus that carried the very mobilized men it had come to “free.” Military An online-retail hub in Russia and a Russian-run phone network in occupied Donetsk: two of one night’s targets . One strike went after the warehouses that supply Russian shoppers, the other after the communications that serve the occupation. Intelligence and technology Ukraine’s sky has two kinds of threats now, and it handles only one of them well . Mobile fire groups and interceptor drones catch most slow drones, while ballistic missiles remain the gap the Defense Ministry says it needs better means to close. Germany just caught the man suspected of order

The notorious neo-Nazi-linked unit has admitted to holding at least 26 men inside a house outside of Kiev A Ukrainian court has ordered pretrial arrest without bail for the woman who raised allegations of torture at a facility in Kiev operated by the notorious neo-Nazi-linked Azov unit. The scandal erupted on Monday after allegations emerged that dozens of men were being beaten and held for ransom at a private house outside Kiev. Furious relatives and local residents gathered outside the property, leading to clashes with the authorities. Valentina Molodaya arrived at the house in an ambulance and livestreamed herself pleading to be allowed inside to examine men she claimed were being held there in appalling conditions. At a pretrial hearing on Wednesday, Kiev’s Solomiansky District Court ordered Molodaya held for 60 days without bail. She is suspected of obstructing military activities, disclosing military locations and organizing mass unrest. Molodaya denied accusations of organizing unrest and claimed that she is a medic who came to the house after being tipped off about a man who had allegedly been taken from hospital after surgery and beaten while held at the property. Re

Russian prosecutors charge perhaps 90% of Ukrainian captives whose cases go to trial, prisoners of war among them, with terrorism-related offenses. Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Russia, said this in an interview with Ukrinform published on 3 November. Russia tortures Ukrainian prisoners of war. Russia's withdrawal from the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture took effect on 1 November, the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee (CPT) said . The move ends the committee's mandate to inspect Russian detention sites, which it visited 30 times between 1998 and 2021. In November 2024, the CPT had already criticized Russia's "ongoing failure to cooperate with the Committee." Torturing prisoners can sometimes even lead to career advancement, the UN Special Rapporteur said, pointing to the widespread impunity surrounding these crimes. Russia puts Ukrainian prisoners of war on trial as terrorists International law shields soldiers from prosecution for simply fighting in a war, or for lawful acts of war, even where a country's own laws treat those acts as crimes, a UN Human Rights Office report stated in March 2023. Under the

За кілька годин мережа вже "знала" все: сорок людей у підвалі, катування, зламані хребти, навіть загиблий. Правоохоронці ці заяви спростовують. За даними командування Нацгвардії, будівля була тимчасовим пунктом розміщення мобілізованих і військовослужбовців, яких повернули після СЗЧ. Водночас четверо військових після СЗЧ справді мали травми, їх направили на обстеження. Звідки ці травми й чи було незаконне насильство, має встановити розслідування. Саме так це і має працювати: факти, перевірка, відповідальність. Я не слідча, і висновки робити не мені. В армії справді вистачає проблем, і я говорю про них публічно та говоритиму далі. Жоден військовослужбовець не повинен зазнавати незаконного насильства, незалежно від того, чи був він у СЗЧ. Але є речі, які не мають двох трактувань. Ніхто не має права штурмувати місце, де перебувають військові, вибивати вікна, закидати людей камінням і трощити автобус Нацгвардії. Ніхто не має права, прикриваючись боротьбою за справедливість, перетворювати військовий об'єкт на арену масових заворушень. Ніхто не має права публічно розкривати розташування військових, коли росіяни щодня шукають, куди вдарити. І ніхто не має права без доказів називати катами

Псевдомедикині Валентині Молодій, яка першою приїхала на "швидкій" до будинку у Петропавлівській Борщагівці на Київщині і заявила про незаконне утримання військових, оголосили підозру та обрали запобіжний захід у вигляді тримання під вартою без права внесення застави. Джерело : суддя у залі суду, Суспільне , речниця Офісу генпрокурора Мар'яна Гайовська в коментарі "Українській правді" Пряма мова судді : "Застосувати до Молодої Валентини запобіжний захід у вигляді тримання під варто без внесення застави строком на 60 днів". Деталі : За даними Суспільного, Молодій раніше оголосили підозру у перешкоджання законній діяльності Збройних сил України та інших збройних формувань, а також у поширенні інформації про місце розташування військових і організацію масових заворушень. Молода у суді заявила, що подаватиме апеляцію на це рішення. Речниця Офісу генпрокурора Мар'яна Гайовська повідомила УП, що у цій справі запобіжні заходи обрали двом підозрюваним жінкам. "Одна із них – 48-річна жінка (Молода – ред.), знайомий якої перебував у військовій частині, стала ініціаторкою протиправних дій. Вона вважала, що чоловіка нібито незаконно утримують військовослужбовці, та вирішила організувати блокув

There were 26 mobilised servicemen in the house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv Oblast, where clashes occurred on 2 November, four of whom were injured, the Azov regiment has reported. Source: Ukrainska Pravda article titled "What happened in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka and what is known about the injured: Azov's answers to five main questions" (English translation coming soon) Details: According to Pavlo "Kil" Kurchenko, Commander of Military Unit 3121 of the 1st Corps of the Azov National Guard, to which the temporary deployment point belongs, there were no "numerous beaten people" or "a killed person" in the house, as fake doctor Valentyna Moloda had shouted during a live stream. Four mobilised men – Andrii Kuleshov, Ivan Yareshko, Oleksandr Pavliuchenko and Oleksandr Perminov – sustained injuries and were later taken out of the house and delivered to a National Guard medical facility. According to Kurchenko, Kuleshov was in the house "in quarantine for adaptation after going AWOL [absent without leave – ed.]". This man was also previously a National Guard serviceman: after being assigned at a territorial recruitment centre, he was sent to the 52nd Forge International Ass

Unrest near a deployment point in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, Kyiv Oblast, began over serviceman Andrii Kuleshov, whose relatives tried to get him out of the service for a bribe of about US$7,000. Source: Pavlo Kurchenko, Commander of Military Unit 3121 of the 1st Corps of the Azov National Guard, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda (English translation coming soon) Details: According to the commander, the unrest outside the building was provoked by Kuleshov's relatives, who were trying with all their might to take him out of the military. On the eve of the clashes, the mobilised man's mother tried to "make a deal" to have her son released. She came to the deployment point under the pretext of handing over his belongings and offered money to one of the soldiers. Quote: "I don't remember the exact amount of the bribe, but a figure of around US$7,000 was mentioned." Details: The serviceman refused to take the money and only passed the belongings to Kuleshov. Kuleshov had previously served in the National Guard. After being assigned at a territorial recruitment centre, he was sent to the 52nd Regiment, from which he later fled. The unit's soldiers tracked down the fugitive at his

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Western media outlets have ignored the discovery of a secret torture site hidden inside a basement of a home near Kiev, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov told Sputnik.

On 2 November in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, an enraged crowd rocked a bus with mobilized men inside, threatening to overturn it. These were the men the crowd had come to "free." Hours earlier, a woman in a medic's uniform with impeccable makeup had pulled up to a private house nearby in an ambulance, knelt at its gate, and livestreamed a dramatic plea to be let in to the "unlawfully held mobilized." Their relatives had called her, she said, because the men were in grave condition after "torture." The video spread like wildfire through networks of anonymous Telegram channels and posts in Facebook groups. There is an underground torture chamber in that house, they alleged. Forty men are kept inside against their will, they claimed. A woman posing as a medic demands to be let into an army post at Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, 2 November. Screenshot from video shared in social networks The reality was less dramatic. The kneeling woman was not a medic but the owner of a plastic surgery clinic, investigative outlet Slidstvo.Info found . The private ambulance she arrived in? The medical company that once owned it stopped operating in 2023 and sold the vehicle

A confrontation outside a military facility near Kiev has exposed abuse allegations and brought renewed scrutiny of Ukraine’s recruitment and detention system A private house outside Kiev has become the center of a scandal over an alleged torture chamber run by a unit of Ukraine’s notorious neo-Nazi-linked Azov formation. Accusations that men were being beaten and held for money brought furious relatives to its gates while senior officials scrambled to respond. The confrontation has exposed a darker side to Kiev’s military recruitment system, already notorious for men being dragged off the streets. It has also revived questions about secret detention and torture facilities documented in Ukraine long before the latest scandal. Who was being held, how did they get there, and what have their military superiors admitted? Here is what we know. What happened outside Kiev? The scandal erupted on Monday in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital, after ambulance personnel reported being denied access to someone needing medical assistance. Reports spread that armed men were holding dozens of people in the basement, prompting relatives and residents to g

Claims of torture at a National Guard facility near Kiev have sparked accusations that the abuse extends far beyond one basement A small village outside Kiev, home to a few thousand people. An ordinary-looking house behind solid gates flanked by brick pillars. But no one could call what went on inside that house ordinary. A woman in a red medical jacket kneels in the street. A police officer in a bulletproof vest stands before her. Her outstretched hand trembles as she holds up a phone, its screen facing him. A video sent to her from the basement of the house is playing. A man’s face fills the screen: bruises under both eyes, his forehead stained yellow and green, like tea spilled across an old photograph. Filming himself, he speaks Russian in a low, steady voice that seems drained of any hope of rescue: “My stomach hurts really badly. I have chills.” Officials insisted there was no one behind the gates. Well, almost no one – just one soldier who had gone AWOL. No need for a hospital; they could take care of him themselves. Police swore there were no hostages and no victims. Read more Ukraine’s neo-Nazi conscription ‘torture chamber’: How the shocking scanda