A Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) colonel is suspected of torturing Ukrainian civilians, the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office announced on Nov. 6.
Investigators from Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) believe the 42-year-old colonel gave orders to torture residents of the Kakhovska district from the spring of 2022, when Russian forces occupied the city of Nova Kakhovka.
The occupation authorities reportedly imprisoned Ukrainian civilians in the city's police station and subjected them to beatings and death threats.
"People were kept in unsanitary conditions without proper medical care," as well as without enough food and water, the regional prosecutor's office said.
The man, who the regional prosecutor's office did not name, has been officially notified of the suspicion in absentia.
A UN human rights report released on Oct. 20 found that Russian occupation authorities in Ukraine use torture "in a widespread and systematic way."
The report found new evidence that Russian authorities committed a number of war crimes, including willful killing, torture, rape and other sexual violence, and the deportation of children to the Russian Federation.
Nate Ostiller
