Russia plans to build new prisons in occupied Kherson region to suppress resistance
The Russian occupation authorities are preparing to expand the system of repression in the temporarily occupied territories of the Kherson region. According to the National Resistance Center, the Kremlin has begun preparations for the construction of new prisons and correctional colonies, which are officially referred to as “infrastructure restoration” but will actually be used to tighten control over the local population.
New “correctional facilities” for resistance fighters and hostages
The so-called “governor” of the occupied part of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, held a meeting with the director of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation, Arkady Gostev, during which the parties discussed plans to “restore and build new correctional facilities” in the region.
According to sources in Henichesk, the occupation administration has already identified several potential sites for such facilities. They are located mainly in areas where there used to be detention centers or industrial enterprises, which are now planned to be converted into closed prisons.
Despite the official rhetoric about “restoring law and order,” the real purpose of the construction is to create a system for detaining Ukrainian citizens suspected of “disloyalty to Russia,” as well as Russian military personnel accused of ‘desertion’ or “disciplinary violations.”
Relieving the burden on torture chambers and tightening control
Local sources report that the occupiers plan to “relieve the burden” on temporary detention centers, which are overcrowded after a wave of mass arrests of Ukrainian civilians. Detainees are often held without trial, subjected to torture and forced ‘interrogations’ in cases of “collaboration with the Ukrainian military.”
The project is supervised by a special unit of the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Russian Federation in conjunction with the FSB. According to available information, there are plans to create a full-fledged network of penitentiary institutions in the occupied territory by spring 2026.
A new stage of repression against Ukrainians
Analysts at the Center for National Resistance believe that these actions are part of Moscow’s large-scale strategy to suppress resistance, which the Russian authorities call “stabilization of the region.” In reality, it is about building a punitive infrastructure that will become another tool for persecuting the pro-Ukrainian population.
“Under the guise of security and law and order, Russia is building a system of prison terror in the occupied territories, where violence and isolation take the place of justice,” the National Resistance Center said in a statement.
