ASTRA sources face pressure after publishing an investigation about a torture basement in an abandoned mine in Donetsk

ASTRA believes that this way the command of the 5th Zakharchenko brigade is trying to stop the dissemination of information about their crimes.

On Friday, ASTRA published material about the torture of Russian military commanders of the 5th and 110th brigades (m/u 41698 and 42600). According to the interlocutors of the editorial board, the commanders of the 5th brigade staged a real “concentration camp” on the territory of the abandoned Petrovsky mine in Donetsk.

It was there where the military from the 5th Brigade tortured the American “military correspondent” Russell Bentley to death.

After the release of the ASTRA investigation, on August 16 at about 22:30 in Rostov-on-Don, a lawyer who represents the military from the 5th brigade was attacked. She acted as one of the sources and handed over the first known video from the torture basement in the Petrovsky mine to the editorial board, filmed by her principals. Shortly after that, on August 17 at 4 a.m. in Donetsk, the military tried to break into the house of another ASTRA source — civil rights activist Maxim Vedoprav.

“I went out for a walk with my dog. A big guy came up to me and pushed me with his shoulder. Then he hit me in the face and hit me in the rib again. The only thing he said was, ‘You know why.’ I grabbed the dog and ran. Fortunately, by some type of a miracle, I was near the entrance, I managed to run in and slam the door shut. The military continued to knock on the door,” said to ASTRA Svetlana [the lawyer’s name has been changed at her request].

Later, Svetlana’s information about the attack was confirmed by journalists of 161.ru. According to Svetlana, a bruise of the soft tissues of her face and a bruised rib were recorded in the emergency room. She plans to contact the police about the attack.

Svetlana connects the attack with the release of the ASTRA material, for which she told the stories of her principals. Now she works only for the 5th brigade. Earlier, the woman had already received verbal threats from representatives of the 5th brigade:

“They said: ‘Imagine you drive from Rostov to Donetsk, and your car, God forbid, will explode or be fired at, and no one will be able to find you. And then the car will be found in a combat position, somewhere in the front.’ That’s the kind of nature of the threats. Such threats have been received verbally and on several occasions.”

Petrovskaya mine in Donetsk is already the 17th illegal basement for the torture of the military in the occupied territories of Ukraine, the existence of which was proved by ASTRA.

The material that made the 5th Brigade command nervous can be read at the link: https://astra.press/english/2024/08/16/4078/