In Kherson region, occupants tortured a huntsman of the Black Sea Reserve

Serhii Lobachuk, a gamekeeper of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, was kidnapped by the Russian occupiers three times. After the last time, he and his family were forced to flee the occupied Kherson region.

This was reported by the Media Initiative.

According to media reports, Russia controls one-fifth of Ukraine, where almost half of the protected areas are located. Under occupation are 17 national parks and numerous nature reserves, which have now turned into territories of fear.

The occupiers are removing Ukrainian leadership, forcing employees to work for them or detaining those who remain loyal to Ukraine. At least ten employees of the reserves have been taken by the Russians, some have been released, and others are still in captivity. Among them are employees of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, the largest in Ukraine. Ranger Serhiy Lobachuk was kidnapped by the occupiers three times.

Serhiy was responsible for a section of the Black Sea Biosphere Reserve, the largest in Ukraine. When the full-scale invasion began, most of the workers left the territory, but Lobachuk remained to look after the equipment, inventory and environmental objects.

His first detention took place on May 2, 2022. The occupiers accused him of possessing weapons, beat him, handcuffed him, and took him to the temporary headquarters, where they continued to threaten and torture him. He was forced to hand over his hunting carbines and cooperate with the occupation authorities.

The second time the man was captured on September 15. Then he went to a neighboring village, but the occupiers stopped his car, kicked out his wife and child, searched the house and took hunting weapons, ammunition and valuables. Serhiy spent 38 days in the basement, where he was systematically tortured with electricity, beaten, threatened with death, and forced to starve. During this time, he was given food only once a day, and sometimes nothing for up to five days. In 38 days, he lost weight from 76 to 60 kilograms.

During his detention, Lobachuk saw and heard the torture of other detainees - a man from Kherson and a female volunteer - who were subjected to electric shocks and suffocated with a bag.

After the liberation of Kherson, Serhiy was detained for the third time in Zburyivka. He was kept in the basement of a private house, beaten, shot near his ear, threatened with nail tears and ordered to show his hands. After five days of torture, the man was dumped on the road near a checkpoint.

After these three abductions, Serhiy and his family began to hide, restore their documents and prepare for their escape. The man and his family were forced to leave their native Bekhtery and flee the occupied Kherson region.

Ivan Moshensky, former head of the emergency department in Hola Prystan in the occupied left-bank Kherson region, also spoke about the occupiers' torture chambers. In August 2022, he was detained for two weeks: he was beaten, tortured with electricity, kept in fetal position in pits, and tried to force him to cooperate and inform on the Ukrainian military, but he managed to survive and be released.

Анна Бальчінос