This Is What It’s Like Inside An Abandoned Russian ‘Torture Chamber’ in Ukraine

KHERSON, Ukraine – When Ukrainian troops entered Kherson city in November last year they were greeted by crowds of cheering people, who couldn’t quite believe that the 8-month Russian occupation of the city was over.

The port city, in the south of the country, was the first – and only – regional capital to fully fall to the Russians when they invaded in February. Its recapture was a huge humiliation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and sparked joyous scenes in a rare moment of celebration in Ukraine since the invasion. “The people of Kherson were waiting,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said afterwards. “They never gave up on Ukraine.”

But several months on, no one is celebrating in Kherson. In fact, it seems like no one is really here, many residents have left since November, because even though the Russians were forced out, they didn’t go very far.

The new front line is just across the Dnipro River, where on the eastern bank Russian forces have dug in, their artillery staring back at the city, which has been struck steadily since. According to an update issued on Friday by local authorities, Russian forces struck settlements across Kherson region 65 times in the last 24 hours, including 13 times in Kherson city itself, killing two people and injuring nine.

And while the Russians have left Kherson city, terrifying memories of the occupation are very much still present.

We were given access to a dilapidated building in the city that Ukrainian authorities say was one of several used as a makeshift torture chamber by the Russians, to terrorise civilians and resistance fighters, men and women.

There are allegations of rape, the use of electric shocks, and psychological torture. The city of Kherson is in Ukrainian hands again, but the Russian graffiti scrawled across these walls is an ever-present reminder that the battle for the city, and Ukraine, goes on.