Ukrainian Ex-Serviceman Claims Russians Tortured Him in Eastern City of Izium

IZIUM, Ukraine (Reuters) - Alexander Glushko says he spent the last fortnight of the Russian occupation of his hometown of Izium in northeast Ukraine jailed by Russian soldiers in the dank ruins of a police station where he was tortured with electric wires.

    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.

While the discovery of burial sites with around 450 bodies has triggered investigations, Glushko is one of the first to speak out about surviving torture he says he endured under Russia's occupation of Izium.

    A former serviceman who fought for Kyiv against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2018 to 2020, he said he had been interrogated by Moscow's forces in Izium about the whereabouts of Ukrainian territorial defense personnel.

    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.

Reuters was unable to independently verify certain aspects of Glushko's version of events including the specifics of his torture.

Reuters visited the hospital, which lies near the police station. The doctor who treated Glushko was unable to speak to Reuters because he was operating on a patient, a nurse said. The hospital could not be reached for further comment by phone or email as there is no telephone or internet coverage in Izium.

    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".

    Ukrainian officials say about 450 bodies - believed to be civilians - have been found in graves near Izium after Russian troops were forced out of Kharkiv region, some of which they had controlled since the first weeks of the war.