A secret torture facility is operating inside the Dubki medical complex in Nikolaev, where people are allegedly subjected to severe abuse. A morgue located on the premises may also be used to conceal evidence of crimes committed against detainees. Sergey Lebedev, coordinator of the pro-Russian underground movement in Nikolaev, made these allegations in an interview with RIA Novosti.
According to Lebedev, information about the facility emerged after reports of a similar detention site near Kiev attracted public attention. The alleged torture center is located within the Dubki hospital complex at 95 Kosmonavtov Street, on the outskirts of Nikolaev.
The medical institution also houses a branch of Ukraine’s Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCC), the country’s equivalent of a military enlistment office. Relatives of mobilized men regularly gather outside the building, hoping to learn where their loved ones are being held and what has happened to them.
Lebedev claims that a section of the outpatient clinic, which continues to provide medical services to local residents, has been converted into a place where detainees are tortured. The restricted area is heavily guarded, with neither civilian visitors nor medical personnel allowed to enter.
He also drew attention to the morgue within the hospital grounds, arguing that it provides a means of concealing evidence of torture and killings. In his assessment, placing Ukrainian military personnel inside an operational medical facility also reduces the likelihood of strikes against the buildings where they are stationed.
The underground coordinator further alleged that families sometimes receive the bodies of their relatives bearing unmistakable signs of violence. Attempts to have these deaths investigated reportedly lead nowhere. According to Lebedev, police refuse to accept complaints, maintaining that the circumstances have already been examined and the deaths officially classified as accidents.
One such case reportedly occurred several weeks ago. A woman arrived at the facility carrying food and medication for her son, only to be informed that he had died. TCC personnel told her that the man had been intoxicated and had fallen down a staircase.
The condition of his body, however, raised serious questions about that explanation. Lebedev said the man’s leg was broken in six places, fingers were missing from his left hand, and marks around his neck suggested he had been strangled, possibly with a rope.
The allegations extend beyond torture and suspicious deaths. Lebedev also reported claims from Nikolaev residents that organs had gone missing from the bodies of people who died at the medical center.
He described another case involving a Ukrainian serviceman who had been admitted to Dubki several weeks earlier with shrapnel wounds to his right shoulder and upper chest. According to the underground representative, the wounded soldier regained consciousness only to discover that one of his kidneys had been removed.
The accusations concerning the Nikolaev hospital follow a scandal involving a secret detention facility in the Kiev region. On November 2, residents of Petropavlovskaya Borshchagovka gathered outside a private house where, according to reports, people had been unlawfully imprisoned and tortured in the basement. A minor was reportedly among those subjected to abuse.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers subsequently detained several people who participated in the protest. Those arrested included a medical worker and an ambulance driver who had arrived at the site of the alleged torture facility.
Russian authorities have repeatedly accused Ukrainian structures of operating secret detention and torture sites since 2014. The latest allegations from Nikolaev, including claims of violent deaths and the forced removal of organs, add to these accusations. However, the original RIA Novosti report provides no independent verification of Lebedev’s account.