Tetyana Tipakova is still haunted by the memory of torture she endured in 2022 after the Russian military arrested her for expressing opposition to their occupation of Ukraine.
She was held for months in a cell that was just 3 meters long and only half that width, she says.
"They beat you with their hands and with their feet and with objects," she said. "They beat me with a book and a wooden stick."
Whatever happens, she told herself at the time, don't collapse.
"If you fall, you understand that you have to get up, because when you're down, they'll kick you and it will be even more painful."
Tipakova is one of thousands of Ukrainians who have been systematically abducted and tortured by Russian forces, say reports by investigative journalists at The Guardian, Azov Sea News, and IStories.
Amnesty International also reports that informal holding cells, often in schools, industrial spaces or the basements of houses have spread far and wide throughout Russian-held areas.
And despite what she endured, says Tipakova, she knows others had it far worse.
"There were girls among us who weren't in the basements, but they were raped at home in front of their mothers. Then the mother was raped in front of her daughter."
Torture aside, prisoners are often held incommunicado for months or even years with their families having no idea where they are or even if they're still alive.
The torture, often involving beatings but sometimes subjecting people to electric charges via wires attached to their bodies, is common for prisoners of war, says investigative journalist Polina Uzhvak of IStories.
"Many prisoners are tortured and beaten to get information," she said. "It's just how they treat prisoners. A person may not know anything, but they will still beat them, especially men."
Those who are held in occupied Ukraine may eventually be released and return home, Uzhvak said.
"Sometimes people are kidnapped and released after a while," she said. "Others are sent on into the Russian prison system, and then there is no chance to be released other than via a prison exchange. But very few are in fact exchanged."
Kherson district councilor Roman Baklazhov spent 54 days in the custody of Russians, who made a habit of taking elected officials in areas of Ukraine they were occupying.
He says the holding cells that have been set up are no secret.
"A torture chamber can be anywhere, in any basement, in any private house," Baklazhov said.
"Torture chambers in schools, police stations in Kakhovka and Nova Kakhovka are generally known to the public."
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians are listed as missing by Ukrainian authorities.
Most are likely being held by Russian forces, according to the reports.
The Russian interrogators are no longer trying to extract military intelligence from prisoners, according to Borys Petrunyok of the Zmina Human Rights Center.
"Motivation is obviously shifting more toward a pure attack on manifestations of Ukrainian identity and disloyalty," said Petrunyok. "People who do not accept the occupation, regardless of whether they pose a threat to Russians."
