When, in early March 2022, Lt Col Valery Sergeyevich Buslov, a 46-year-old Russian military commander, arrived in the Ukrainian city of Balakliia, he promptly ordered his troops to set up checkpoints, hide artillery in the nearby woods, and convert the local police station into a detention camp.
For seven months, until the city was liberated by Ukrainian armed forces, more than 200 civilians, including 30 women, were detained and subjected to degrading treatment. At least 150 men were tortured, one woman allegedly raped, and seven civilians were killed.
