Head of Presidential Office: “There are many such buildings” — a serviceman described the unofficial prisons for AWOL soldiers

Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov, commenting on November 2 on the situation around the unofficial prison set up by “Azov” near Kyiv, where servicemen who had left their units without authorization (AWOL) were held, stated that “there are many such buildings.”

What these “buildings” are and what they are used for was described to “Strana” by one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces servicemen, who, according to him, had himself been through such places.

“Such a place is also called a ‘pit.’ And this phenomenon is widespread among the military. There are very many such ‘pits’ across the country, especially in frontline cities. But not only there. They hold everyone who has in any way offended the command. For example, drank alcohol, refused to carry out an order, or simply fell out of the commander’s favor. AWOL soldiers end up there too,” the serviceman says.

According to him, this is effectively unofficial prisons where servicemen find themselves completely without rights.

“People held in a ‘pit’ have no value whatsoever. They can be beaten and abused. If a person is capable of doing work, he usually doesn’t stay in the ‘pit’ for long. He is sent to the zero line with the status of a penal soldier. Such people are usually called ‘diggers.’ They perform the hardest and most dangerous work under constant drone strikes. A person used to be able to remain in the status of a ‘digger’ for 30 days, then the term was increased to 45. Of course, far from everyone survives,” the serviceman says.

Meanwhile, National Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko confirmed that servicemen returned after going AWOL were in the building near Kyiv. Four of them were sent to hospital. At the same time, he rejected accusations of torture but promised to check reports of improper treatment of the military.

The police also refuted the initial information about 40 hostages and the death of a person. It was previously reported that the unofficial prison in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka was set up by the 1st Corps of the National Guard “Azov.”