Militants keep 80 hostages in Donetsk Oblast Administration basement

Drunk people put a sack on his head and detained him for a few hours last Friday although he simply wanted to talk to representatives of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, he claimed.

There is a basement in the building, Verzilov said. “It was very dark there, the basement was full of people, there were about 80 of them. People are hungry and thirsty like in a punishment cell. It was dark and scary, water was dripping from the ceiling,” the ex-deputy told Ukrainian Radio Liberty.

 Dmitry Verzilov spent only a few hours there but the contact with terrorists dramatically changed his views.

“I thought that the DPR really had some political position like they had said on TV so I went there. And I saw bandits. Ordinary people are unaware of it,” the ex-deputy said.

Some of the hostages are held in the building to ransom, Verzilov said.

Photo: REUTERS