Der SpiegelDer Spiegel

Russian war atrocities in Ukraine: The torture chambers of Balakliya

By Alexander Sarovic

27 Sep 2022 · 10 min read

Editor's Note

A vivid on-the-ground feature from Der Spiegel shows how people in an eastern Ukrainian town suffered torture and death during a brutal six-month occupation by Russian soldiers.

Oleksandr Shutov was locked up for 36 days. For the first 26 of them, he huddled in a group cell and could hear the screams of other prisoners. Then the guards came for him, attached electric wires to his hands and tormented him with pulses of electricity.

Maksym Soter, 37, was only detained briefly, but suffered through the torture of his friend Vanya, abuse so savage that he would later die.

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