The doors creak ominously on their hinges.
This is the first time that Valery has returned to the prison where the Russians took him.
Passing through the gates, he points to the cell on the second floor where he was locked up.
And when he recounts what happened here, it is clear that it is a painful experience.
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“In the 20 cells there were more than 180 prisoners. Every day people were tortured.
“If you walk into the prison and see what they wrote on the walls, you will see how much they hated us.”
Valery was a successful businessman before he was arrested when he resisted as soldiers stole his trucks from his factory.
But what the Russians didn’t know was that their crimes had been recorded on CCTV as they looted his office and drove away with his vehicles.
CCTV footage shows Russian soldiers stealing from Valery’s workplace
He shows me the pictures on his phone. They clearly show soldiers filling bags with valuables and computer equipment.
When they left, they broke everything.
Each image is dated – it all happened in March shortly after the invasion when they captured the city of Kherson.
On the walls of the prison, graffiti reads “Zelensky, we are coming”.
But surprisingly, Valery considers himself lucky because, he says, other inmates have been tortured far worse.
“They were severely tortured. They were electrocuted. They were choking people in water. They were cutting people. They were doing things that I can’t imagine how a human being could do. We were praying for Ukraine to come back in Kherson as soon as possible.
“Please forgive me. It’s hard for me. It’s hard, very hard. Please forgive me.”
What happened in this building during the Russian occupation is only now revealed.
Andrei from the building next door told Valery that residents could also hear the screams.
“I heard it all, it was terrifying.
“They were raping girls here. Then they brought men here and beat them and killed them.”
Residents of Kherson wait their turn to charge their electronic devices
The pain of the Russian occupation is everywhere – this is a city that is still coming to terms with and coping with collective trauma.
Every day the queues for water get longer, a miserable wait in the biting cold.
Power is hard to find.
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People crowd around a generator to charge their phones and torches.
Among them is Lisa, who has been waiting here for three hours.
Lisa stands in line every day for water and electricity
It’s now part of her daily routine, but she’s worried.
“There could be shelling from the left bank. We were warned of this. We were told to seek shelter, if not, at least try to hide in a safe part of the house.”
You can still feel the intoxicating atmosphere of liberation but people are tired and they are afraid of what’s to come.
