Kherson Residents Tell of Torture, Abuse During Russian Occupation

Ukrainian air defenses shot down 77 missiles and 10 Iranian-made drones, according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.

A missile landed in a Polish village near the Ukrainian border, killing two farmworkers and raising fears of a wider conflagration.

Top North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials said Wednesday that the missile was likely a Russian-made weapon fired by a Ukrainian air-defense system, and that there was no evidence it was directed there intentionally. Polish President

Andrzej Duda

said Wednesday that Ukraine was defending itself and placed blame on Russia.

Preliminary U.S. assessments also indicated the missile that landed in Poland was from a Ukrainian air-defense system, according to two senior Western officials, while President Biden said at the G-20 summit in Indonesia that it was unlikely to have been fired from Russia.

Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

blamed Russia late Tuesday, saying Russian missiles hit Poland, while the Russian government denied any responsibility for the strikes.

While investigations continued into the origin of the missile, repair crews in Ukraine were working to fix infrastructure damaged in Tuesday’s attack, which left about 10 million Ukrainians without electricity. The missiles also hit residential buildings near Kyiv’s government district and disrupted communications across the country.

The head of Ukraine’s electricity-transmission-system operator, Ukenergo, told a Ukrainian news broadcast that the coming days would be difficult, warning emergency shutdowns were necessary to stabilize the grid.

Russia has increasingly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as it faces setbacks on the battlefield. During their retreat from Kherson, Russian forces knocked out power, heating, water and cell reception in the city.

Meanwhile, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said Russian troops were fortifying defensive lines on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, which became the new front line in the south following the Russian withdrawal. Ukrainian forces shelled Russian positions on the eastern bank of the river and in the area of the Kinburn Spit on Tuesday, according to the southern operational command.

Less than a week since jubilant residents welcomed the return of Ukrainian troops to Kherson, residents were taking stock of the occupation.

Vitaliy Shevchenko, 66, said Russian troops had shot his neighbor multiple times in the chest after he insulted one of them.

Mykola Makarenko said he knew from the start of the occupation he was likely to be a target. He had served in the Ukrainian army, fighting against Russian-backed forces in the east of the country in a conflict that has dragged on since 2014.

The 44-year-old said he couldn’t flee Kherson because a friend had seen his name on a list of wanted men at a Russian checkpoint. He spent the subsequent months staying with different friends, moving every few weeks and avoiding Russian checkpoints. In August, however, Russians stopped the car Mr. Makarenko was traveling in and detained him.

For the next 16 days, Mr. Makarenko said he was tortured by Russian soldiers who broke his jaw and four of his ribs, and scratched a letter Z onto his leg with a knife.

“I’m waiting to see my family,” he said. “Then I’ll rejoin the military and get vengeance.”

Following the recapture of Kherson, Mr. Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had uncovered evidence of hundreds of war crimes. The Kremlin has repeatedly dismissed such accusations.

Lina Naumova, a popular TikTok blogger, said she continued to post messages like “Kherson will never be Russian” for months after the occupation began. On Aug. 23, an unmarked sedan pulled up outside her home and three Russian soldiers began searching for Ukrainian symbols and weapons.

Then they put her in the car with them. On the way, she said, they put a bag over her head. She thinks they took her to a local jail, but isn’t sure.

For 11 days, Ms. Naumova said she was held in isolation and repeatedly questioned about transactions on her bank card. The soldiers demanded to know who else published anti-Russian blogs from Kherson.

As they searched her phone, she saw a conversation she had with a Ukrainian newspaper. She grabbed the phone and quickly deleted it, she said. In response, the soldiers tied her hands behind her back, poured water on her and attached cables to her fingers, though they didn’t turn the electricity on.

They told Ms. Naumova, 67, they wouldn’t beat a woman her age, but made loud noises around her and screamed at her, before moving her to a basement. Once, a soldier slapped her, she said.

After 11 days, she was taken to a room and forced to record an apology to everyone she offended, saying she was sorry for criticizing the Russian army and that Crimea is Russia. She had to record it five times before they were satisfied, she said. Then they took her home, but kept her passport.

Write to Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com and Isabel Coles at isabel.coles@wsj.com