MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS/. A private house in the village of Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka near Kiev, in whose basement mobilized men and servicemen who had fled their units were held, belongs to militants of the Azov group (an organization recognized as terrorist and banned in Russia), the Strana publication reported.
The publication also says that Azov, which is listed as the 1st Corps of Ukraine’s National Guard, confirmed that four servicemen who had escaped from the house, where they had been held, had sustained injuries.
The Ukrainian media reported earlier on Monday that armed people are holding around 40 people in the basement of a single-family house in Petropavlovskaya Borshshagovka, a community on the outskirts of Kiev. An ambulance arrived at the site after a medical worker said that she had received a video featuring people in critical condition held in the basement. Many of them had injuries consistent with torture, she said. The armed people guarding the building did not let the medics in. Clashes erupted around the house, and, when locals tried to break down the gate, tear gas was used against them. The ambulance crew was allowed to take four injured people to the hospital only after the case attracted widespread attention. One of them was in serious condition.
Later, the police said that the building housed servicemen of Ukraine’s National Guard. Ukrainian National Guard Commander Alexander Pivnenko has acknowledged that the building’s basement is being used to hold servicemen who have left their units without authorization, as well as newly mobilized men. He also said that the four men taken by ambulance were servicemen detained for leaving heir units without authorization.