Torture allegations mount in aftermath of Kherson occupation KHERSON, Ukraine (AP) — When a dozen Russian soldiers stormed into Dmytro Bilyi’s home in August, the 24-year-old police officer said they gave him a chilling choice: Hand in his pistol or his mother and brother would disappear.In other cases, Russians were allegedly tipped off by sympathizers who provided names of people believed to be helping the Ukrainian military.Investigators accused him of having a Kalashnikov rifle — not just a pistol — and pressured him to share his father’s whereabouts.“Evidence must be collected and preserved to maintain that chain of custody, so that when there is international justice, the evidence is lock-tight and perpetrators can be held to account,” he said.In March, Dmytro Plotnikov’s friend was seized by Russians when he went to Kherson’s central square to run errands shortly after the occupation began."