The SBU identified Russian troops who “hunted” Ukrainian patriots in Zaporizhzhia region

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has identified three Russian soldiers who abducted and tortured civilians in the temporarily occupied regions of the Zaporizhzhia region.

The SBU reported this on January 6.

One of the soldiers is the commander of the tactical group of the 22nd separate operational brigade of the Russian Guard. After the capture of Melitopol, he was appointed "military commandant" of the city, in this position he was supposed to suppress the resistance movement on the territory of the Azov region. For this, he formed "punitive squads", which conducted mass raids on the homes of local residents. During such "raids" they kidnapped people and took them to the "military commandantʼs office". There, information about the whereabouts of Ukrainian patriots of the area was extracted from the victims.

Two more soldiers are employees of the Makhachkalinsky detachment of the special purpose militia (OMON) of the Rosgvardiya administration in Dagestan. At the beginning of the occupation of the Vasyliv district, they were part of the "commandantʼs office" of the Russian Federation, one as the deputy head of the occupation body, the other as his assistant.

They personally participated in the detention and torture of Ukrainian citizens, used poisonous chemicals and electric current on the victims, and constantly threatened to kill close relatives. All three were informed of the suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war (Article 438 of the Criminal Code).