A suspected Russian torture chamber dubbed a “mini Auschwitz” has been discovered in a recently liberated city, Ukrainian officials have said.
The room, which contained a box of gold dental crowns, was found inside a vacant town near Izyum, a city in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region.
After being occupied by Russian forces since April, Pisky-Radkivski was freed by Ukrainian troops last week.
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While traveling through the region, local officials and the National Police said they made the grim discovery in the Borova district, along with other gruesome objects.
A gas mask was found with a dirty cloth, Kharkiv’s chief police investigator said, and Ukraine’s defense ministry said it had been forced onto “the head of a victim, who she was covered with a smoking cloth and buried alive.”
The box of gold dental crowns found prompted the ministry to draw parallels between Russian and Nazi forces, describing the room as a “mini Auschwitz”.
According to the Auschwitz Memorial, at the Nazi concentration camp, where an estimated 1.1 million people died, more than 40 kg of gold and white metal were removed from the false teeth of the bodies of victims killed in the gas chambers.
Photos released by the head of the Kharkiv National Security Service’s investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, also showed a broken phone, pieces of what appeared to be barbed wire and a sex toy.
“Neighbors were constantly hearing screams from there. Investigators found a terrible torture chamber in the village,” he said.
He confirmed that police “know the names of the victims” and are now investigating.
Image: A gas mask with a cloth was found in Pisky-Radkivski. Photo: Head of the investigative department of the National Security Service in the Kharkiv region
“People were intimidated, beaten and abused”
The country’s National Police has accused Russian troops of committing war crimes during their occupation of the area.
“When the Russian military entered the village, they drove the inhabitants out of their houses and settled there themselves,” he said.
“People were intimidated, beaten and abused. Russian occupiers left their houses ransacked. Dirt and filth – the trademark of the ‘Russian world’,” he added.
Image: Image: Head of the investigative department of the National Security Service in the Kharkiv region Image: Inside the alleged “torture chamber”. Photo: National Police of Ukraine
‘Mass burial sites’ previously found in Izyum
It is not the first time Russian forces have been accused of war crimes during the war in Ukraine, with tens of thousands of alleged incidents currently under police investigation.
The United Nations human rights office has said that Russia’s invasion has led to a grave human rights situation in the country and that a wide range of violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture, have been committed that could amount to crimes against humanity. war
A war crime is defined by the United Nations as a serious violation of international humanitarian law committed against civilians or “enemy combatants” during an armed conflict.
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3:43 Izyum’s death “shows signs of torture”
Russia has already been accused of war crimes in Izyum, following the discovery of more than 440 graves in the pre-conflict town.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a “mass burial” was found in September.
Bolvinov claimed that some of the victims were “shot dead”, while others died as a result of artillery fire, mine explosions and airstrikes.
Image: Graves in Izyum
Bodies found with hands tied behind their backs
One of the most notable alleged war crimes to have occurred in Ukraine was in the town of Bucha, where corpses were found with their hands tied behind their backs.
Just outside the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, the area was devastated by fighting, and after Russian troops began to withdraw, footage revealed a 45-foot-long makeshift mass grave outside a church.
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3:19 Bodies are still being found in Bucha
Sky News verified two videos showing bodies lying in the street, including one with at least seven corpses on the pavement.
Photos taken by the Associated Press showed bodies of people in civilian clothes with their hands tied behind their backs and wounds to the back of the head, with the suggestion that some had been shot at close range.
The images prompted condemnation and offers of more support for Ukraine from around the world, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Russia has repeatedly denied committing any war crimes.