The grim discovery was made in the village of Pisky in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, Poland’s kresy24.pl website reported on Wednesday.
‘Gold teeth pulled from mouths of victims’
At the site, Ukrainian police found a plastic box filled with more than 200 tooth caps and dentures, among other horrifying remnants, according to the independent.co.uk website.
Residents have confirmed that the gold teeth were pulled from the mouths of living and dead Ukrainian victims, independent.co.uk reported.
‘People were being buried alive’
Announcing the discovery of the torture chamber in Pisky, Serhii Bolvinov, chief investigator in the Kharkiv region, told reporters: “Neighbours constantly heard screams from here. Investigators found a terrible torture chamber in the village.”
He added, as cited by independent.co.uk: “Police have been made aware of the torture of being buried alive and the use of a gas mask with a smoldering rag. A dildo and a box with torn dentures were also found in the torture chamber."
Meanwhile, another torture site was found in the settlement of Velykyi Burluk, also in the Kharkiv region, kresy24.pl reported.
Russian troops kept and abused people at the local police station, the Polish website said, adding that investigators were "examining the evidence.”
18 torture chambers in Kharkiv region
So far, Ukrainian officials have discovered 18 torture chambers in the Kharkiv region, as well as identifying some 1,000 Russian torturers and criminals, and some 2,000 local collaborators, according to kresy24.pl.
One site, containing electrocution equipment, was located at a railway station in the town of Strilecha, said the governor of Kharkiv region, Oleh Synyehubov, according to kresy24.pl.
Last month, mass graves and torture chambers were found near the city of Izyum, officials said.
Ukrainian counteroffensive
The horrifying discoveries are being made as the Ukrainian army continues its successful counteroffensive in the east and south of the country, according to officials.
On Tuesday night, the US-based Institute for the Study of War reported that “Ukrainian forces continued to make significant gains in Kherson Oblast while simultaneously continuing advances in Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts on October 4.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Ukrainian troops had liberated “dozens of settlements” this week.
He said on Tuesday night that territory had been retaken in the southern Kherson region, the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and the northeastern Kharkiv region, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Wednesday is day 224 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: kresy24.pl, independent.co.uk, express.co.uk