Kherson, November 2022: what the city revealed

Russian forces left Kherson on 11 November 2022, after eight months of occupation and two days after Moscow ordered the retreat. Within a week Ukraine's Interior Minister reported 63 bodies with signs of torture in the liberated part of the region; by 24 November the Prosecutor General had confirmed nine torture chambers. The UN Commission of Inquiry later found the same pattern of torture in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and in 2024 qualified Russian torture as a crime against humanity.

Torture in detention under Russian control, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions — established (UN Commission of Inquiry, A/78/540, 2023); torture as a crime against humanity — established at the level of the Commission's findings (A/79/549, 2024) Detention sites, torture and killings discovered after liberation (Bucha, Izium, Kherson) — pattern Torture chambers planned and financed by the Russian state — position (Ukraine; Mobile Justice Team, Tier C)

Russia said. Dmitry Peskov, Kremlin spokesman · 11 Nov 2022: “It is a subject of the Russian Federation; this status is legally defined and fixed. There are and can be no changes here.” — False under international law. The UN General Assembly declared the attempted annexation invalid a month earlier (ES-11/4, 12 Oct 2022: 143–5–35). Ukrainian forces entered the city the same day; within two weeks nine torture chambers were confirmed.

Evidence held: UN Commission of Inquiry, A/78/540 (press release 20 Oct 2023); UN Commission of Inquiry, A/79/549 (29 Oct 2024); Interior Ministry (D. Monastyrskyi), 16 Nov 2022; Office of the Prosecutor General (A. Kostin), 24 Nov 2022.

Photo & video · 2 photos

The regional administration building in Kherson, 19 Nov 2022 — eight days after Russian forces left the city; the pedestal of the Lenin monument in front

Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine · 2022-11-19 · CC BY 4.0 · original ↗

SHA-256 964c7cd991b3ebf2… · 291 KB

Deminers clear ground in liberated Kherson region during a press tour, 16 Nov 2022

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine · 2022-11-16 · CC BY 4.0 · original ↗

SHA-256 c4ed7e5a520f1a4b… · 255 KB

Download pack (ZIP · 2 files)Openly licensed official material only; videos are linked to the official post. No image shows the dead; images of graphic aftermath are blurred until tapped and marked sensitive in the pack. This is not an evidence repository: originals are held by the Prosecutor General (warcrimes.gov.ua) and the ICC OTP.