Russian Troops Detain Civilians in Church Before Deporting Them From Ukraine’s Sumy Region

Russian troops reportedly assembled civilians inside a church before taking them out of the village of Hrabovske in Ukraine’s Sumy region. Those removed were mostly elderly residents who had earlier declined evacuation.

This was reported by Viktor Trehubov, head of the communications department of the Joint Forces Grouping, who spoke about the incident during a Ranok.LIVE broadcast.

According to Trehubov, most residents of the village had already been evacuated. The people who stayed behind were largely elderly individuals who had submitted written refusals to leave.

“Since the village is small, it didn’t take much time. It took a few hours. They first herded them into the local church, and then from there dragged them onto Russian territory. They just started moving them around there—it’s not a city, it’s essentially a small village,” Trehubov said.

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War in Ukraine

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He also noted that it remains unclear whether the civilians were taken away under the threat of force or weapons.

Earlier, a 64-year-old civilian doctor from Donetsk, Ihor Kirianenko, who spent seven years in Russian captivity after being accused of collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence, has spoken publicly for the first time about the abuse he suffered while detained.

Kirianenko described his experience in an interview with hromadske published on October 6. He said that torture was routine during his imprisonment and that its cruelty and calculated nature exceeded anything he had previously imagined. He noted that his age—he was 57 at the time—offered no protection, adding that he had never believed such methods could be used against a person.

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