Terrorists in the Donbas are capturing and torturing people in order to frighten Ukrainians and seize Ukrainian territory, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), said on Espreso.TV, October 4.
“We have published a map of concentration camps, places of mass executions and burials in the Donbas. All these crimes that are committed in the Donbas have one goal — intimidation. To intimidate Ukrainians and bring them to their knees, to seize our territory, to seize our resources, and virtually to destroy our people. In fact they are using SS methods. That is why nobody is observing any conventions, why even wounded prisoners are tortured, why doctors are not allowed to see them. The people released from captivity are telling us they were not fed. These are certainly inhumane conditions, but it is not yet the worst option. There are pits … there are torture chambers in the concentration camps, where people are destroyed physically. I’m not even talking about the psychological side,” he said.
“These people that we free from captivity but cannot show on television because they are officers in the Security Service or the Armed Forces have undergone simply unimaginable torture — torture that is impossible to endure. After they are liberated, it is much more difficult to help them psychologically to return to normal life,” he said.
“Not just aggressors but fundamentalist aggressors have come to our country — Orthodox fundamentalists who have this idea that they have to destroy or to subjugate under their ‘Russian world.’ We have collected and published evidence proving that Babyn Yar and Bykivnia (grave site where the Soviet secret police disposed of thousands of executed “enemies of the state” — Ed.) have taken place, that concentration camps and hostages have returned to the Donbas,” he said.
Nalyvaichenko also noted that negotiations for the release of prisoners are complicated by the fact that the terrorists refuse to act in accordance with civilized methods and use prisoners for the purpose of extortion and greed.
