Hola Prystan's emergency manager tells about torture in captivity

He is a former head of the emergency department of Hola Prystan, a survivor of capture and torture by the Russian occupiers. Today, the city is left without electricity, under constant shelling and drone attacks, and most residents have evacuated.

Ivan Moshensky told about this in an interview with Novyny Pryazovia.

Ivan Moshensky, former head of the emergency department of the city council of Hola Prystan in the occupied left-bank Kherson region, spoke about the first months of the full-scale Russian invasion and the life of the city under occupation. After the city was seized by the Nazis in March 2022, the Ukrainian authorities continued to work, providing the population with food and humanitarian aid. At that time, the occupiers abducted the mayor, Oleksandr Babych, who is still in captivity.

In August 2022, Moshensky was detained and held for two weeks, subjected to torture, including beatings, electric shocks, and being held in pits in a fetal position. They interrogated him, tried to persuade him to cooperate and force him to "snitch" on the Ukrainian military, but he managed to survive and be released. After his capture, he moved to Kherson, where he was hiding with relatives until the city was de-occupied in November 2022.

Moshenskyi noted that during the occupation, Hola Prystan was subjected to massive shelling, and local residents organized protests and demonstrations in support of the Ukrainian authorities. The occupiers searched for ATO participants, detained patriotic citizens, and after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant in June 2023, the city and surrounding villages were severely flooded. Hundreds of people died, some of the bodies were taken to unknown locations, and many remained under the rubble.

Today, the situation in the city is extremely difficult. There is almost no electricity supply. Massive shelling remains the main threat: Russian operators are practicing on the local population. People hardly leave their homes because of the danger.

The number of residents has significantly decreased compared to the beginning of the full-scale invasion. Many people have evacuated to the government-controlled territory. Only a few thousand people remain in the city, mostly sick, elderly, and families with members with limited mobility, who are forced to survive under constant threat.

The former mayor of Kherson also spoke about his more than three years in Russian captivity, where he was systematically tortured, beaten, and forced to cooperate. Despite brutal torture and offers of positions, he refused to recognize the occupation authorities.

Анна Літман