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Military operation in Ukraine

Ukrainian army, mercenaries torture, execute civilians in Kharkov Region — local official

According to the head of the Kharkov Region military-civilian administration Vitaly Ganchev, the situation in this region remains highly complex

MOSCOW, September 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian armed formations and foreign mercenaries are torturing and executing civilians in areas under their control, the head of the Kharkov Region military-civilian administration said.

"Every day we hear about more and more atrocities," Vitaly Ganchev said in a video footage published on the Kharkov Region military-civilian administration’s Telegram channel on Saturday. "How people are being tied to trees only for obtaining Russian passports, those passports then are being nailed to their legs, how people are being shot in the streets," he said.

According to the official, this is happening in many populated localities, including Izyum, Kupyansk, Veliky Burluk and Volchansk. "Currently, the situation in the Kharkov Region remains highly complex," he noted. "People are being held hostage, it is possible to say that they are forced to remain there and cannot leave, they are being subjected to harassment and torture by the Ukrainian armed formations and Western mercenaries." He noted that among those who torture and harass civilians "there are quite a few people who don’t know neither Russian nor Ukrainian."

"This is a ‘civilized war’ on the part of the Ukrainian army," he added.

Earlier, Ganchev told TASS that Ukraine simply sacrificed its civilians in order to repeat a Bucha-like false flag operation in Izyum.

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