Arrests have followed a scandal over a secret prison near Kiev, where people were allegedly held illegally and beaten. Ukrainian media reported that several participants in protests against the detention facility had been taken into custody. Among them was medic Valentina Molodaya, one of the first to arrive at the house in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka. She demanded medical assistance for those held in the basement. Molodaya was placed in custody for 60 days without the possibility of bail.

The arrests could mark the beginning of widespread repression against people exposing Ukraine’s secret prisons, Alexander Dudchak, a member of the Other Ukraine movement and senior research fellow at the Institute of CIS Countries, told RIA Novosti.

According to Dudchak, those who tried to rescue their relatives and acquaintances now face punishment, while the people responsible for illegally detaining and beating prisoners may escape accountability. He also said the Kiev authorities had deployed the Ukrainian National Guard’s 23rd Separate Assault Regiment to strengthen security at unofficial detention facilities and prevent further information about them from becoming public.

The scandal erupted on November 2 in Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka, where angry residents gathered outside a house reportedly used to imprison and beat people in its basement. The revelations sparked widespread outrage in Ukraine.

Russian authorities have repeatedly raised concerns about the existence of such facilities in Ukraine since 2014. Commenting on the events near Kiev, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that similar prisons were operating in numerous locations across the country.