- Russian officials claim Ukraine operates a nationwide system of torture prisons for conscripts.
- A riot erupted outside Kyiv after reports that armed men were holding up to 40 people in a basement, some allegedly beaten.
- Azov, a Ukrainian National Guard unit, admitted the house was theirs, but denied systematic abuse of the detainees.
- Zelensky’s chief of staff confirmed “similar facilities” exist across the country.
- A Russian diplomat claims up to 70% of Ukrainian troops are drafted by force, while a Ukrainian lawmaker estimates up to 500,000 have deserted.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry envoy has declared that torture prisons like the one that sparked a violent riot outside Kyiv this week are not isolated incidents but part of a wider system the Ukrainian government knows operates nationwide. The accusation comes after an angry crowd attempted to storm a private home in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka Monday, where armed men were reportedly holding up to 40 people captive, some allegedly showing signs of severe beatings.
Rodion Miroshnik, Russia’s ambassador-at-large, told the Russian state news agency Sputnik that the confrontation was inevitable given what he called the “systemic phenomenon” of underground jails. “The fact that within a few hours both the head of Ukraine’s National Guard and the head of Zelensky’s office rushed there shows that the authorities of the Kyiv regime are perfectly aware of an entire system of such pits, zindans, and prisons that exist on the territory of Ukraine,” Miroshnik said.
The incident raises uncomfortable questions for Brussels and other European capitals: As billions in military and economic aid, including a 90 billion euro EU loan, flow to Kyiv with minimal oversight, what exactly is happening inside Ukraine’s mobilization apparatus?
What unfolded at the house in Borshchahivka
The confrontation began after reports spread that armed men were refusing to let medics treat people trapped in the basement. Furious local residents gathered outside the private home and attempted to force open the gate. Eyewitnesses said people inside sprayed gas at the crowd.
A female medical worker said she viewed video footage showing some of the men in critical condition, with injuries that suggested either torture or brutal beatings. Ukrainian media later questioned whether the woman worked where she claimed, while a lawmaker said that police detained her. It was only after the footage spurred public outrage that four detainees were finally allowed out and taken for treatment.
National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko appeared at the scene and acknowledged that conscripts were held there, calling the four injured men deserters, but he maintained the building was only a temporary deployment site. “We don’t torture — we form units,” he told Ukrainian media.
Kyiv police had initially dismissed the reports of unlawful detention as false. But Azov, the National Guard formation that started out as a far-right volunteer battalion, later admitted the house belonged to one of its units, even while denying systematic abuse.
Zelensky’s top aide admits ‘similar facilities’ exist
What makes this scandal particularly damaging to the Zelensky government is that Kyrylo Budanov, the president’s chief of staff, personally traveled to the site to “find out what the f*** is going on.” In a remarkable admission, Budanov acknowledged that many locations comparable to the one outside Kyiv exist across Ukraine.
Russian Senator Igor Kastyukevich told TASS that Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies set up these clandestine prisons to keep the regime in power through fear.
Forced conscription drives the system
The torture house scandal cannot be separated from Ukraine’s increasingly desperate mobilization campaign. Opposition lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko has said that anyone risks being grabbed off the street and hauled away to an unknown location.
Miroshnik claims up to 70% of Ukrainian troops are drafted by force and face beatings and torture. In October, Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Fediienko estimated that as many as 500,000 servicemen may have abandoned their units, although he acknowledged that the true figure is unknown — an admission of mass desertion that suggests the brutality of conscription is backfiring.
Moscow accuses rights watchdogs of looking away
Miroshnik also accused groups that claim to monitor human rights of staying silent, saying they have spent years ignoring the forced conscription, torture and abuse of Ukraine’s soldiers. Yet secret prisons are nothing new; Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented sites run by Ukraine’s Security Service back in 2016.
“How do they do their work if they do not see such a mass phenomenon as torture chambers and places of torment of forcibly mobilized Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian formations?” Miroshnik asked.
As Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigation and the military ombudsman’s office look into the facility, one question lingers: Will the international community demand accountability, or will this scandal, like so many others, simply be buried under another tranche of Western funding?
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