Investigators have discovered torture "pits" on the territory of the "Prudboy" and "Totsky" military training grounds in the Volgograd and Orenburg regions. This was reported by the "Important Stories" and Conflict Intelligence Team investigators on October 24.
Journalists have discovered torture "pits" on the military training grounds in the Volgograd and Orenburg regions. Military personnel familiar with the area have confirmed to the investigators that they had seen such "pits" or heard about their existence. Analysts have also identified similar objects in satellite images.
On the "Prudboy" territory in the Volgograd region, a mobilization training center was set up in the fall of 2022, and it is currently used for training volunteers. According to one serviceman, some of his fellow soldiers were placed in the "pits" in "Prudboy." Typically, they were punished for alcohol abuse. The man claims that the military police would physically abuse them and keep them in the "pits" for several days to a week. They were served one meal a day with no medical assistance. "People who returned from there would be more careful; they were afraid of making mistakes," the soldier said. According to him, one soldier died after being released from the "pit."
Investigators have established that similar punishment "pits" existed at the "Prudboy" training ground in the 1990s. In 1998, a 19-year-old man died in one of these pits when its roof collapsed.
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russian journalists have reported on torture "pits" in combat areas. They are used to punish those who disobey commands or complain about living conditions.
The latest report on this issue was published by the ASTRA Telegram channel on October 21. Twenty mobilized men from the Vladimir and Lipetsk regions were placed in a basement in Zaytsevo, Donetsk region. The men had refused to go into attack after receiving an unfeasible order from their drunken commander. Until now, there has been no contact with the men.
