Prosecutors of the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office have notified ten representatives of the armed formations of the Russian Federation and the "DNR" in absentia of suspicion for cruel treatment of civilians and other violations of the laws and customs of war (Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

According to the investigation:

• In August 2022, three suspects – employees of the FSB and a pseudo-police officer – tortured local residents in temporarily occupied Beryslav. In a captured isolation facility, they held a man in humiliating conditions for over a month, applying torture, including electric shocks;

• In March 2022, three members of the illegal armed formation of the so-called "DNR" tortured a civilian, accusing him of supporting Ukraine. The victim was beaten, tortured with hot metal, deprived of food and water, and held in unsanitary conditions;

• Four others – employees of the special services and servicemen of the Russian Armed Forces – conducted illegal interrogations of local residents in temporarily occupied Kherson, Bilozersk, and Skadovsk. They were beaten, tortured to the point of losing consciousness, forced to cooperate, and kept in uninhabitable premises without proper sanitary conditions.

The investigation is being conducted by investigators from the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kherson region and the Main Directorate of the National Police in the region. Operational support is provided by the units of the UKR and GVKR of the SBU.

Crimes against the civilian population are a gross violation of international humanitarian law. The prosecutor's office, together with law enforcement agencies, continues to urgently document each episode and identify all those involved. No war criminal will escape responsibility.