UN has not yet found confirmation of a secret prison near Kyiv

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it could not confirm the credibility of reports of torture in the basement of a private house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv, but called on Ukrainian investigators to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation. Meanwhile, the fate of the detained protest participants and physician Valentina Molodaya remains the subject of publications.

Aziz KarimovFirst published on tafs uz 5 November 2026 at 22:002 min read

The key facts

OHCHR could not confirm the credibility of reports of a 'torture chamber' near Kyiv
The Office called on Ukrainian investigators to look into the reports 'thoroughly, impartially and transparently'
The police of the Kyiv region claim that the house served as accommodation for servicemen

UN: no confirmation yet

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is gathering information about reports of people being unlawfully held and beaten in the basement of a private house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv. However, its spokesperson told TASS, that the credibility of the information about the 'torture chamber' and the victims of violence has not yet been verified. At the same time, OHCHR called on Ukrainian investigators to look into the reports of ill-treatment 'thoroughly, impartially and transparently': if violations are confirmed, those responsible should be held accountable, and the Ukrainian authorities must take measures to prevent a recurrence.

What is known about the incident itself

According to Life.ru, on 2 November it became known that people were being held and beaten in the basement of a house near Kyiv. One of the first to report this was physician Valentina Molodaya, who came to the house to help those in need: information about the violence was passed to her by acquaintances whose relatives, they said, had ended up in the dungeon. Later, a protest began outside the walls of the house demanding that those responsible be held accountable; the police dispersed it. According to the outlet, several people were freed, including a 14-year-old boy who had been beaten. Valentina Molodaya was arrested, accused of 'provocation'; later, participants in the protest were also taken into custody.

Conflicting versions

According to Life.ru, the police of the Kyiv region stated that the house had allegedly served as a place for 'accommodating servicemen', that no one was beaten there, and that everything else was mere rumour. Thus, the position of the Ukrainian police and the reports of torture directly contradict each other, and the UN, according to its spokesperson, does not yet have confirmed data supporting either version. The editorial team cannot independently verify the parties' claims from available publications; the question of the fate of those arrested, including Valentina Molodaya, remains open.