During the occupation, Russia set up 'women's cells' in the Kherson detention centre

During the occupation of Kherson, Russians set up so-called "women's cells" in a local detention centre.

This was reported by Human Rights Centre ZMINA.

The Centre's researchers found that at least thirty women were held there at different times.

The Ukrainian women were detained during the summer of 2022 and held until the end of October when the Russian military began to retreat from the right bank of the Kherson region.

According to official figures, the women were between 32 and 58 years old. According to the detainees, the youngest of those who had been in the detention facility for a longer period of time was 21 years old. Minors were also detained.

The women were suspected of "guerrilla activities and assistance to the Armed Forces of Ukraine".

"They were detained on purpose, in particular, female employees of law enforcement agencies of Ukraine (for example, the Patrol Police of Ukraine). People suspected by Russian representatives of having contact or family ties with representatives of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the Armed Forces, or the resistance movement in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region were also detained," the Centre's report reads.

The Russian representatives who detained the women introduced themselves as "police of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs" or "military criminal police", did not provide service IDs and hid their faces.

Photo: ZMINA