An image of a wall with the Lord’s Prayer on it was released on Wednesday by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, claiming it is a “torture chamber” in the city of Balakliya, recovered by Kiev troops.
“Russian torture chamber in Balakliya released. The Lord’s Prayer was carved into the wall by Ukrainian prisoners. Russia must be held responsible for this blatant genocide,” reads the message from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry accompanying the photo shared on social media.
Russian torture chamber in liberated Balakliya.
The Lord’s Prayer was carved into the wall by Ukrainian prisoners.
Russia must be held responsible for this blatant genocide. pic.twitter.com/ObQJGjfEQw– Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) September 14, 2022
According to Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigation department of the state police of the Kharkik region, about 40 people were detained during the Russian occupation. This official gives the example of a man who spent 46 days in prison and was tortured with electric shocks. “Further, investigators have information about the dead inhabitants of the city. They are known to have been shot dead by the Russians at the checkpoint on the last day of the occupation.”Bolvinov said, noting that the investigation into what happened during the Russian occupation is still ongoing.
Ukrainian emergency services said there is much work to be done in the newly liberated areas of the Kharkiv region, where the city of Balakliya is located, as there is no electricity, water and in some areas no gas.
“Demining of key objects of the city’s critical infrastructure has already started today so that other emergency and public services can work to restore safe and normal living conditions to residents,” Ukrainian officials said, according to The Guardian.
едений загін ДСНС приступив до виконання робіт у звільненій Балакліїhttps://t.co/23ZFBkqnlY pic.twitter.com/0McLgPEgsW
— DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) September 14, 2022
Balakliya is part of the areas recaptured in the Kiev counter-offensive, which liberates thousands of square kilometers from Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was this Wednesday in the strategic city of Izium, also in the Kharkiv region, on his maiden voyage to the recaptured territories. The head of state promised “victory” for the country in this war.
A pre-war town of about 50,000 inhabitants, Izium was the scene of bloody fighting before it was taken by the Russians, who made it a strategic point to supply their troops.
The recapture by Kiev troops represents a setback for the Moscow army, which has been withdrawn since 2014 to Donetsk, an area under Kremlin control. “We will only move forward in one direction: forward, to victory,” Zelensky wrote in the telegram.
In a video, the Ukrainian leader compared the devastation in Izium to that of Bucha, a town near Kiev from which Russian troops withdrew in the spring, leaving the bodies of civilians murdered in cold blood, although Moscow bears responsibility for these executions. has denied. “It’s the same thing: houses destroyed, people murdered. This is part of our history, part of the modern Russian nation,” Zelensky said.
“Whatever the occupiers destroy, we will rebuild everything. As much as they want to destroy Ukraine, they will not succeed,” the Ukrainian president said.
Ukraine says it has regained control of thousands of square kilometers to the east and south, areas the Russians have occupied since the February 24 invasion, in two weeks. The Russian army, whose bombardment in recent days has caused major power cuts in several regions of Ukraine, said on Wednesday it was attacking Ukrainian forces across the country, particularly in the Kharkov region.
“Massive attacks have been carried out in the Dvorichna, Balakliya and Kupiansk regions against the armed forces and equipment of the 14th and 93rd motorized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
with AFP
Source: DN
