MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/. Tens of thousands of people may be held in various departmental torture chambers across Ukraine, former SBU officer Vasily Prozorov told TASS.

"Yes, of course, I agree [that several thousand prisoners may be held there]. I think even more. Not thousands, but tens of thousands. If you count, for example, in each unit of the armed forces, from a battalion and above, in each SBU department, they run their own [torture chambers], in each unit of Azov (recognized as a terrorist organization, banned in Russia), I think there are even more," he said.

Earlier, Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko reported that she received more than 1,000 letters about secret prisons in Ukraine in just five days.

On November 2, reports came out that about 40 men were being held in a basement in a private house near Kiev. The law enforcement officers present at the scene tried to prevent both doctors and crowds from entering the building, but were forced to relent under pressure from the outraged crowd. As a result, it was found that the basement was being used as a secret prison for mobilized soldiers and those caught deserting. Among those held there was a 14-year-old boy who had accidentally ended up there. The boy was severely beaten.

The prisoners, many of whom showed signs of beatings, were released and sent to hospitals, and head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office Kirill Budanov (listed in Russia as a terrorist and extremist) even admitted that there are "many such houses" in Ukraine. However, the very next day, the authorities launched a campaign to discredit the protesters; three were sent to pre-trial detention, including a female medical worker who reported the basement. Now, the Ukrainian media is saying it was a provocation, while the topic of "secret prisons" is being hushed up.