Zelensky accuses Russian 'fascists' of torture in Kharkiv region
Kiev, 18 September 2022 (dpa/MIA) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian forces previously occupying much of Ukraine's Kharkiv region of employing the widespread use of torture.
At least 10 torture sites had now been discovered in the liberated eastern region, Zelensky said in his evening video address on Saturday.
"Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territory," the president said, calling the occupiers, who fled in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive a week ago, "fascists" and comparing their behaviour to that of the Nazis.
Like the Nazis, the Russians would be held accountable for their actions in court, Zelensky said. "We will establish the identities of all those who tortured and abused people, who brought these atrocities from Russia here to Ukrainian territory."
He said the occupying forces had abandoned torture equipment when they fled. Ukrainian authorities have also published photos of what they believe to be torture sites and equipment.
Evidence of torture had also been found among the bodies discovered in a mass grave in a forest near the city of Izyum, Zelensky said, adding that work exhuming the dead had continued on Saturday.