Photo of Russians hanging 3 Luhansk residents is probably staged for intimidation – former governor Haidai

Serhiy Haidai, former head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, says that Russians intimidate and torture guerillas and local residents in the temporarily occupied territory

He shared the information on Espreso TV.

The current head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Artem Lysohor, previously reported on a resident of Svatove community who was hanged by Russians for his pro-Ukrainian position, and a photo of 3 executed people appeared online. When asked about this situation, Haidai answered: "There was such information, but most likely at that time the photo was staged by the so-called Ministry of State Security of LPR to intimidate the local population and the guerilla movement."

The former head of the Luhansk region emphasized that it is becoming increasingly difficult for guerrillas to work in the region.

"The more the enemy fails, the more they see that the vast majority of the troops that come return dead, the more bitter they become. They often use collective responsibility, so they come to a village or a city, take the first 10-15 people they see there and take them to Luhansk. Then they torture them there, and not all of them come back, driving people to suicide with this pressure, both physically and psychologically. Now the situation is more severe in the Luhansk region," added Haidai.

In addition, he told how Russian soldiers in the town of Shchastia cut off a girl's head for having a trident (the coat of arms of Ukraine - ed.) tattoo on her neck: "The torture is really terrible, and what we will find out after the de-occupation will be very terrible things."