Nearly 226 Ukrainians were subjected to extrajudicial detentions and forced disappearances in Kherson after Russian forces took control of the region in March, a Yale University research group said Friday. A report quoting the Conflict Observatory said that half of the people seized “do not appear to have been released.”
The Conflict Observatory, a research group under Yale University's School of Public Health, said they documented 226 extrajudicial detentions and forced disappearances in Kherson. Around a quarter of that number were allegedly subjected to torture and four died in custody.
Most of the detentions and disappearances were carried out by the Russian military and FSB security agency, and half of those seized "does not appear to have been released", the Conflict Observatory said in a report.
It said men of military age, including civil servants, civil society leaders, teachers, law enforcement and journalists made up a large part of those detained and disappeared.
"These findings demonstrate a range of alarming allegations about the treatment of detainees, including allegations of deaths in custody; the widespread use of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, pillage from detainees (and) sexual and gender-based violence," the report said.
The pattern of those detained shows the campaign was "premeditated," it added.
The report cited sources saying that after seizing Kherson in March, the Russians arrived with lists of names and licence plate numbers, targeting people they thought might resist their presence.
The report added that Crimean Tatars were also targeted and many accused of belonging to what Russia labels a Tatar "terrorist" group.
At least 437 Ukrainian children have been killed as a result of Russia's invasion, Ukraine's prosecutor general's office said on Saturday, France 24 quoting agencies said.
More than 837 children have also been injured in a tally officials said was "not final" because they were still verifying information from zones of active fighting, liberated areas and territory still occupied by Russian forces, the report said.
The eastern Donetsk region was the most affected, with 423 children killed or injured, the report quoted the prosecutor's office as saying.
The United Nations has said at least 16,295 civilians have been killed since Russia's February 24 invasion, which Kyiv and Western leaders have denounced as an act of unprovoked aggression.
Peace in Ukraine will "only" be possible if the country's 1991 borders are restored, a senior aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
"There will be peace when we destroy the Russian army in Ukraine and reach the borders of 1991," Andriy Yermak, head of the presidential administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.