Researchers from Yale University have found in a report sponsored by the US State Department that hundreds of people were jailed or went missing in the Kherson region of Ukraine this year while it was under Russian control and that many may have been tortured, as reported by Reuters.
Despite its disgusting and desperate methods, Russia “must halt these operations and withdraw its forces to end a needless war that it cannot and will not win – no matter how despicable and desperate its tactics,” the State Department stated in a statement regarding the findings.
The study details the detentions and disappearances of 226 persons in Kherson between March and October, of whom a quarter are said to have been tortured and five of whom passed away while being held or shortly after.
Kherson, the sole regional capital it has taken since the invasion in February, was located in an enclave on the west bank of the Dnipro River in Ukraine when Russia last week withdrew its forces from there.
The Conflict Observatory, a State Department-funded initiative that was started in May to gather and examine proof of war crimes and other potential atrocities committed by Russia in Ukraine, is a partnership between the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, which produced the report, and other organisations.
Russia denies that its soldiers have carried out atrocities or targeted people.
(with inputs from agencies)
