MOSCOW, August 16. /TASS/. Since 2014, Ukraine’s security service has subjected thousands of people who opposed the government in Kiev to arrests and torture, Laurent Brayard, a French historian and war reporter who works in Donbass, told TASS.

"I think hundreds or even thousands of people have been affected. <...> If they have something in common, it is that they supported the 2014 rebellion against Kiev morally or actively," he said.

Mostly Russian-speaking residents in Donbass, southern Odessa and central Ukraine fell victim to repressions, Brayard revealed. The exact number of those repressed could be established only after corresponding archives are opened, the expert added.