A resident of Chernihiv region told about basements where Russian soldiers beat and tortured local residents

The retelling of the interview was published by the Agency TG channel.

New Bykov has been controlled by Russian forces since the end of February. Didyk was captured on 19 March. The soldiers asked the man, “why do they keep hitting us with artillery?” and tried to find out if he was transmitting data on the positions of the Russian army to Ukrainian troops. Didyk's tattoos and phone were also checked.

Despite the lack of evidence of Didyk's involvement in the military (according to the man himself), he was taken to the basement. There was a friend nearby, with whom he was seized by the military. Didyk was beaten on the ribs, on the knees, and also threatened to be burned with a red-hot iron. For three days, the man was sent first to one basement, then to another, and in the end, together with a friend, they put him in a car with bags on his head and transported him to the basement, where other local residents were sitting. It was the basement of the boiler room. There were also captured Ukrainian soldiers.

According to survivors, in the early days, the captured soldiers helped the rest of the people in the basement, including giving them water and lemonade stolen from the store. At some point, the Ukrainian military prisoners were taken from the basement and civilians were placed in their place, including 65-year-old Nikolai from Novyi Bykov. A few days later, Russian soldiers brought 25-year-old math teacher Viktoria Andrusha, who admitted to sending information to the Ukrainian military. The woman got into the basement already bruised, but at the same time she continued to call the Russian military occupiers and tell them that they were destroying the peaceful life of local residents.

On March 27, she was taken out of the basement together with another local resident, and since then their relatives have not been able to find them. The prosecutor's office of the Chernihiv region stated that Andrusha could be in custody in the Kursk region.

Killing prisoners. At the end of March, according to former prisoners, the conditions of detention worsened: Russian soldiers severely beat local residents, and problems with sanitation intensified. On March 29, the Russian military said that the prisoners would be released soon. The next morning, a Russian soldier came to the boiler room, who, according to the prisoners, looked drunk and said that he needed bodies.

He brought out one of the prisoners, whom his cellmates remember as Mikhail Ivashko, after which the prisoners heard one shot. The Russian military returned again and offered Didyk to choose the next victim, but he refused to do so. After that, as the man recalls, the Russian dragged him out into the street, led him to a nearby cemetery, put him on his knees and fired, but the bullet whistled past Didyk's ear. After the shot, the soldier picked up the man and told him to talk to him differently.

Then the soldiers chose several more prisoners, and some volunteered to go themselves, Didyk and Nikolai recall. 12 people remained in the basement, and the next morning the soldier told the prisoners that the Russian army was leaving and advised them to wait a while before leaving.

Going out into the street, the prisoners found alive six people who had been taken out of the basement the day before. Three more people were dead with multiple bullet marks on their faces, one person was never found.

According to Human Rights Watch, 20 people were kept in the basement of the boiler room, three of them were killed.

The heroes of the WSJ material did not see any identification marks on Russian soldiers. But the prosecutor's office in Ukraine's Chernihiv region reported that there were three Russian units in Novy Bykovo: the 21st Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade, the 15th Separate Guards Motorized Rifle Alexandria Brigade, and the 37th Guards Motorized Rifle Brigade.

Recall that on the evening of February 27, on the first day of the occupation of Staryi Bykovo, the Russian military shot six civilian men. They were just caught on the street. According to witnesses, this was a reaction to the bridge blown up by Ukrainian forces and the shelling of their military convoy.