Kirill stremousov

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 KHERSON, Ukraine - Few people paid attention to the drab concrete building, tucked away on a quiet residential street, that had long housed unruly youths behind a high wall and a spool of barbed wire. But after Russian soldiers swept into Kherson in early March, the anonymous building quickly became infamous. Black sedans with tinted windows and missing license plates arrived at all hours, disgorging Ukrainian detainees with bags over their heads. Screams began to escape the three-story structure, piercing the once-calm neighborhood, residents said. Sometimes, the gates would open, and a detainee would be dumped on the street, physically and mentally broken. Other captives were sent to a larger prison, or never seen again. "If there is a hell on Earth, it was here," said Serhiy, 48, who lives across the street and whom The Washington Post is only identifying by first name … [Read more...] about Witnesses recount detentions, torture, disappearances in occupied Kherson

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 5 KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — An investigation of a centuries-old monastic complex in Ukraine’s capital and other religious sites has underscored Ukrainian authorities' suspicions about some Orthodox Christian clergymen they see as loyal to Russia despite Moscow's nine month-old war on the country. The search by security service and police personnel at the Pechersk Lavra monastery, one of the most revered Orthodox sites in Kyiv, was unusual but did not happen in isolation. The Ukrainian counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism service reported Wednesday that its agents searched more than 350 church buildings in all — also including sites at another monastery and a diocese in the Rivne region, 240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Kyiv. And the service, known by its Ukrainian initials SBU, accused the bishop of yet another diocese of pro-Moscow activity last week after searching … [Read more...] about With searches, Ukraine focuses suspicions on Orthodox clergy