Photo: https://molbuk.ua
A temporary accommodation site for National Guard personnel was operating in a building in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, near Kyiv, where reports of people being held hostage had circulated online. National Guard Commander Oleksandr Pivnenko said the reports were inaccurate and promised a formal investigation.
Earlier, social media posts claimed that around 40 people were being held in the building’s basement. Police denied the reports, saying they were untrue.
According to Pivnenko, the building housed 18 mobilized servicemen awaiting assignment and four soldiers who had been detained after going absent without leave (AWOL) and returned to their units. Four of the soldiers were transferred to the National Guard’s medical center.
Pivnenko said the 18 servicemen inside were not in danger and could contact their families. He explained that their phones had been confiscated for security reasons because the devices could reveal the location of the facility.
The commander acknowledged that the servicemen needed to be relocated urgently because the site could be targeted by a Russian missile strike.
“Servicemen who defend our Ukraine are everything to us. Any mistreatment of them is unacceptable,” he said.
Pivnenko also said the Khartia unit had no involvement in the incident. He will personally oversee the internal investigation, and anyone found responsible for violations will be held accountable.
He urged people not to attempt to force their way onto the premises or escalate the situation. National Guard personnel and police officers are at the site, while the circumstances are being investigated, the National Guard press service told Ukrinform.
A team from the Office of the Military Ombudsman is also working at the scene alongside National Guard command.
The incident triggered concern after videos circulated online showing a crowd gathered around an ambulance and a man with a bloodied head climbing over a fence. People filming the scene demanded that he remove his mask. Other posts alleged that there had been clashes and that people had been sprayed with an unidentified liquid.
Local online communities claimed that an ambulance had been called but that men described as the building’s owners had prevented medical staff from entering. A medical worker reportedly told police she had received a video from the basement showing people who appeared to have been severely beaten. In another recording, she is seen kneeling and asking police to let her onto the private property.
Some local reports claimed that four people were in critical condition. Pivnenko confirmed that four servicemen had been sent for medical treatment, but did not provide further details about their condition.
Earlier, sources in law enforcement told TSN that only one person was believed to be inside the building, possibly a serviceman who had gone AWOL. Pivnenko’s account indicated that a larger number of military personnel had been staying there.
The Kyiv regional police department had previously said that reports of people being unlawfully detained and a person being killed were false. A deputy regional police chief said military command was on its way to the site.
