But rather than Russian soldiers abusing him directly, Andrii Matiazh, 46, claimed they were local Ukrainian police who had switched allegiance. “Someone tortured me,” he said, speaking at his home, which is about four miles from Ukraine’s border with Russia. “They were in the police before the invasion and then they turned to the Russian side.” Ukraine has accused Russian forces of using torture in areas it controlled, saying more than 10 torture chambers have been found in recently liberated areas of the Kharkiv region in the country’s northeast. But Mr. Matiazh’s claims help point to an additional challenge. Not only must authorities investigate suspected war crimes by Russian invaders, including torture, murder and rape, but they must also be on the lookout for Ukrainian collaborators. In the past fortnight, the Ukrainian army has recaptured towns and villages all the way to the Russian border, including some crossing points. Read more: Children among 146 bodies exhumed at Izyum town mass grave, official Prof Michael Clarke says: Russia takes new stance after reeling from swift Ukrainian attack on Kharkiv But they have yet to secure peace, with the risk of Russian shelling at one of the border crossings deemed so great on Sunday that Sky News was told it was too dangerous to visit. We were, however, able to spend time with Mr. Matiazh in his village down the road, surrounded by fields and hills that border the edge of this part of Ukraine and the entrance to Russia. The thin man with a kind smile lives with his wife and two of their three sons, aged 16 and 11. Their eldest son, 29, who has the same name as his father, is in the army as part of the Territorial Defense Force of Ukraine. “I felt happiness and pain at the same time” Andrii Matiazh junior took us to visit the humble, one-story house. It was only days after he was first able to return to embrace his parents in the wake of Russia’s retreat. They tried to describe that moment. “My insides turned upside down [with joy]” said his mother, Lubov, 46. The soldier’s son said: “I felt happiness and pain at the same time. You cannot understand these feelings. It is very difficult to describe.” “I was shaking for 30 minutes” The parents had a front-line seat to Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, given their village’s proximity to the border. “I saw jets, helicopters, flying so low, they would fly between yards,” the mother said. “I was shaking for 30 minutes. My youngest child was hysterical.” They said Russian soldiers took charge in the nearest town, Vovchansk, while those responsible for the villages came from areas of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions that have been under Russian control since Moscow’s first invasion in 2014. Russian passports The villagers were offered Russian passports, the couple said. “We were not accepted, but the majority of citizens got passports,” said Lyubov. “I think they did it out of fear.” The couple also claimed that Russian soldiers and their proxies would steal from properties in the area. He added a climate of mistrust and abuse, which had seriously affected the family just two days before Ukraine’s counter-offensive reached their region earlier this month. “I had bruises” The father said he was told to attend a building behind the courthouse in the local town. He said five people were involved, working under Russian occupation, including a distant relative. “They took me to the second floor. I was hit three or four times in the face,” he said. “Then they tied my hands behind my back, took off my shoes and socks, attached a metal cable to my little finger and my foot. They laid me down and started giving me electric shocks.” He said he was also blindfolded. At one point, a different type of charge was used on his leg – he still has scars on one thigh. “The capillaries in my eyes collapsed and my eyes turned red. I had bruises. I didn’t feel anything when they hit me in the face after the electricity,” said Mr. Matiazh senior. Click to subscribe to Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts “I knew our soldiers were coming” He said he was being investigated for a local theft he had nothing to do with. He went on for two hours, before being told he would be released but had to return in a few days with information – a threat the father felt he should turn informer or face more torture. Back home, he and his wife discussed trying to escape, but they didn’t have enough money. “I decided to hide somewhere in bushes, abandoned houses and wait for our soldiers. I knew our soldiers were coming,” he said. He believes the counterattack that followed saved his life. His eldest son said: “All the bad cops have gone to Russia.” Asked how he felt after hearing his father’s account of the torture and conditions in the village during the occupation, Andrii junior said: “Horrifying and terrible.” He wondered if his connection to the military might be why his father was targeted, noting that several of his classmates had gone to the police and knew he was a soldier. “I don’t blame anyone but someone…betrayed me,” he said.
