He said he was also beaten during an earlier five-day stint in Russian captivity in May. When Russian troops withdrew from the town on Sept. 9 and 10, he wept with joy as he and other detainees were suddenly set free.
He said he could neither stand up nor speak after detention and he was treated in Izium's Central City Hospital for those conditions for one-and-a-half months. Asked about Glushko's account of torture, two neighbours, who did not give their names, said that he had been arrested twice and was in very bad physical condition when he was brought back by residents the first time.Russia has consistently denied its troops have committed war crimes since its troops invaded Ukraine in February. On Monday, the Kremlin rejected allegations of such abuses in Kharkiv region, where Izium is located, as a "lie".
Bolvinov declined to comment on individual cases such as Glushko's but he said numerous investigations were underway.Local resident Alexander Glushko, who says he spent the last fortnight of the Russian occupation of his hometown of Izium jailed by Russian soldiers in the dank ruins of a police station where he was tortured with electric wires, speaks with Reuters, in the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine September 19, 2022.
After finding his military papers, the soldiers took him to a basement not far from the hospital with a bag over his head where they beat him for five days, he said. He said the second time they came for him, in August, he was at home, watching a DVD in a T-shirt and underwear. They took him to the police station in those clothes, with a bag over his head.