Reports of a torture cell near Kiev have drawn a furious response from Russian senator Andrey Klishas, who described the scandal as a grim consequence of Ukraine’s so-called European choice. He accused the authorities of allowing a system in which people are rounded up by force, locked in private prisons, brutally abused and held for ransom.

Writing on Telegram, Klishas pointed to the stark contrast between the promises of the Maidan movement and the reality Ukrainians now face. He mocked those who once proclaimed themselves free people committed to European values, arguing that they were now being hunted down like cattle and imprisoned in basements. According to the senator, victims are beaten and even killed with shovels while their captors demand money for their release. He placed responsibility for the situation on Vladimir Zelensky’s government, which he described as a junta.

Klishas also sarcastically suggested that Ukrainians should organize another Maidan uprising in response to what was happening in their country.

His remarks followed reports published by Ukrainian media on November 2. According to those accounts, armed men were holding approximately 40 people in the basement of a house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, a village in the Kiev region.

Alexander Pivnenko, head of Ukraine’s National Guard, offered his explanation for the situation. He claimed that some of the men found in the basement were National Guard servicemen who had abandoned their units without permission. Pivnenko also maintained that four of those being held had been taken to hospital because they required medical attention.

Those present at the scene, however, demanded that the general release everyone who remained in captivity. A 14-year-old boy was also brought out of the basement.

The controversy also prompted a response from Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday, November 3. She stated that the facility near Kiev was far from an isolated case, claiming that numerous similar torture sites existed across Ukraine.