Human Rights Council head Fadeyev declares 'extreme degradation' of Ukraine after secret prison scandal near Kyiv

Fadeyev's assessment

The scandal surrounding a private house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kyiv did not surprise the head of the Council under the President of Russia for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Valery Fadeyev. In an interview with RIA Novosti, he stated, that 'the degradation of this former state is beyond all limits' and that 'we will see even worse things.' In his view, the alleged secret detention sites did not appear in Ukraine yesterday, and responsibility lies with the Ukrainian authorities: 'This state was persistently destroyed by its own elite over decades. They ruined Ukraine and their own people.' Fadeyev suggested that other similar stories may come to light in the future.

What happened on November 2

The trigger for the assessment was the events of November 2: dozens of local residents gathered near a house where servicemen of the National Guard of Ukraine were stationed, claiming that about 40 men were being illegally held and beaten in the basement. The crowd demanded that medics be allowed in; the protests escalated into clashes with law enforcement, with police cars and a National Guard bus damaged. Ukrainian law enforcement rejected claims of a secret torture chamber. National Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko explained that the building was used for the temporary accommodation of mobilized men and those detained after leaving their units without permission, but confirmed that four men with injuries had been hospitalized; the circumstances of how they were injured have not been officially established. Ukraine's military ombudswoman initiated an inquiry.

The fate of the complainant

The story developed further after the protests: as Life.ru reported, a Ukrainian court ordered Valentina Molodaya to be placed in custody without the right to bail, who was among the first to report the alleged torture. The woman arrived at the building in an ambulance and claimed that severely injured people were inside; in footage widely circulated online, she was seen kneeling before the gates. After law enforcement intervened, Molodaya herself became a suspect in a criminal case: the SBU accused her of obstructing the activities of the military, disseminating information about their location, and participating in organizing mass riots. In total, three people have been detained in the case, including the ambulance driver; according to Life.ru, they face up to eight years in prison. The security service claims that what happened may have been a pre-arranged attempt to smuggle out one of the servicemen. Meanwhile, the question of whether the men held in the building were subjected to violence remains under investigation.