The abducted mayor of Kherson Kolykhaiev was spotted in a secret FSB prison of the Russian Federation.

A woman who was held in a secret FSB prison in Simferopol for 2.5 years and returned to Ukraine reported that she saw the mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev there. This information was shared by Hanna Mamonova, a war crimes documenter from the Laboratory of Journalism for Public Interest.

«I spoke with a person who spent 2.5 years in a secret FSB prison in Simferopol. The man recently returned to Ukraine. He says he saw Kolykhaiev, the abducted mayor of Kherson, in the FSB prison. The mayor is currently there», - it was reported.

According to Mamonova, the last confirmation of his presence in the FSB prison was in spring 2024. She added that the Russians concealed the location of the mayor of Kherson and deny that there is a prison in the basement of the FSB building.

It is known that in 2022, the Russians created a secret prison in the basement of the FSB building due to mass abductions of people in the occupied southern Ukraine - in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The absence of cameras in the basement led to the construction of walls, without toilets and sinks.

Interrogations are conducted by FSB officers from Russia, not locals from Crimea. They work on a rotational basis and use polygraphs and torture during interrogations.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has officially recognized the mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev as a prisoner of war. This was reported by the son of the former mayor.

Kolykhaiev was abducted by armed members of the Rosgvardiya and possibly the FSB due to his refusal to cooperate with the occupation administration of the Russian Federation. This was reported by the advisor to the mayor Halyna Liashenska.

Liashenska also stated that Kolykhaiev received a letter from the 'newly appointed' gauleiter, in which he was offered to discuss the future 'organization of interaction', but he refused to meet, which led to threats of arrest.

The fate of Kolykhaiev remains unknown.

Despite the occupation, Ihor Kolykhaiev continued to work in the city.

Recall that the mayor of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev told journalists about life in the city under occupation.

On July 19, it was reported that Kolykhaiev is in a temporary isolation facility in Kherson.