‘It Was Horror’: Ukrainians Share Grim Tales of Russian Occupation
With Russian soldiers pushed out of parts of the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian investigators have been overwhelmed with accounts of detentions, torture and missing relatives, as well as collaboration and property theft. Oleksandr Avdeev looked on as the body of his son, Serhii, who was seized by Russian forces last month, was exhumed in Borova. By Carlotta Gall Photographs by Ivor Prickett Oct. 20, 2022 BALAKLIYA, Ukraine — Russian troops spent weeks searching for Mariya, the 65-year-old common-law wife of a serving Ukrainian Army officer. Twice, she said, they ransacked her cottage in a village outside the town of Balakliya, and when they did eventually detain her months later, they tortured her repeatedly under interrogation, using electric shocks and threats of rape. The recapturing by Ukrainian fighters of much of the Kharkiv region a month ago is now revealing what life was like for thousands of people living under Russian military occupation from the early days of the war. For m...