CLAIM: “Secret prisons of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion (the ‘patriots’ applauded by the Greek Parliament when Mykhailo from Azov addressed it) were discovered in a Kyiv suburb, where mobilized men, deserters and a shocked 14-year-old child were being held. Hundreds of protesters gathered at the scene and tried to free the detainees, who were transferred to hospitals and other facilities. Azov Battalion soldiers allegedly tortured the detainees”.
CONCLUSION: The visibly distressed teenager in the video is a protester who was at the scene and fell from a wall, rather than a “prisoner” in the supposed Azov regiment prison in Kyiv, as shown by other videos published online and identifiable details in the footage.
The war in Ukraine continues with drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. Meanwhile, mobilization practices continue to cause tensions within Ukrainian society. Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers, known by the acronym TCC, play a central role in enlisting new soldiers (archived here).
Against this backdrop, on November 3, 2026, Greek-language Facebook posts, such as here and here, shared a video showing a visibly distressed young man wrapped in a blanket. The posts claimed that he was a 14-year-old who had been “detained and tortured” in a secret prison run by the Azov Battalion (now a brigade) near Kyiv, while protesters had attempted to free prisoners from the supposed prison.
The two Facebook videos have received more than 250 and 100 shares, and more than 116,000 and 69,000 views, respectively.
Greek news outlets, including topontiki.gr and thepressproject.gr, also reported that protesters surrounded a house near Kyiv on November 2, 2026, following allegations of unlawful detention and torture of servicemen by members of Azov. Both articles also refer to a 14-year-old described as having been escorted out of the building. To Pontiki notes, however, that it could not confirm whether the minor was among those detained, while The Press Project reports that he was found in the basement.
However, these claims are false and out of context. Although the video does show the clashes that took place on November 2, 2026, outside what appears to be a recruitment center, the 14-year-old was among the protesters and was not a “prisoner” at the facility.
What we know
An advanced online search allowed us to identify several news reports about the events of November 2, 2026. On that day, around a hundred people gathered outside a house used by Ukraine’s National Guard in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, near Kyiv, after allegations of unlawful detention and torture of servicemen spread on social media. The building housed 22 men, who had either recently been mobilized or had been brought there after leaving their units without authorization. Four of them required medical attention (archived here). The gathering escalated into clashes with law enforcement, during which gunshots were heard and police vehicles were damaged.
The authorities opened separate investigations into the violence and possible abuses by military officials, examining, among other issues, the accommodation conditions and whether coercion had been used against the men there (archived here). The interior minister rejected the torture allegations, while the security services said they suspected an organized operation aimed at removing a serviceman from the building.
None of these reports, however, states that a 14-year-old was a “prisoner” at the facility.
However, a second advanced online search, using the keywords “14 year old + Ukraine + clashes”, allowed us to find videos on X, such as here and here (archived here and here), showing a young man in green trousers climbing a wall and even throwing stones toward the house inside the compound. He then appears to fall into the grounds before sharp sounds resembling gunshots are heard. The users sharing the videos say that he is not a detainee but a 14-year-old protester who appears to have been injured during the clashes.
Other videos on X show the same person in green trousers on the wall (archived here).
We compared the visible details in the videos shared in Greek-language Facebook posts with those in the footage we found on X. In both cases, the person presented as a 14-year-old is wearing the same green trousers, which are visible for a few seconds beneath the blanket as he is escorted away from the crowd, as shown in the screenshot comparison below:
For this comparison, we used a higher-quality video published on X with the same claim in English, here. The footage is identical to that shared in the Greek-language Facebook posts.
Further online searches led us to a Ukrainian-language article published by Slidstvo.Info (archived here) on November 3, 2026. The article reports that Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, entered the building, where he found the 14-year-old. It explains that the minor had entered the grounds by climbing over the fence with the help of a tree after the clashes had begun. Specifically, the article states:
“У будинку Кирило Буданов також знайшов 14-річного хлопчика. Він переліз до будинку по дереву через паркан уже після початку сутичок. Його не утримували разом із мобілізованими”.
English translation:
“Inside the building, Kyrylo Budanov also found a 14-year-old boy. The boy had entered the grounds by climbing a tree and crossing over the fence after the clashes had already begun. He was not being detained alongside the mobilized men”.
In addition, a video published on X (archived here) shows Budanov speaking with the 14-year-old, who can be recognized by his long blond hair.
According to a Kyiv regional police official interviewed by Slidstvo.Info (archived here), the unlawful detention allegations were circulated, among others, by Valentyna Moloda, a woman who arrived at the scene in an ambulance and presented herself as a doctor and the owner of a private clinic. The outlet also established that she held an investigative journalist’s identification card issued by an association (archived here).
According to her account, she had come to help injured people but had been denied access to the building. She then called on Kyiv residents to go to the scene, including through her TikTok account (archived here). However, Slidstvo.Info’s investigation revealed inconsistencies in how she presented herself: the medical services company she claimed to represent had ceased operating in 2023, while the ambulance used had been sold in 2024. The outlet also reports that she had participated in a “peace” rally in Kyiv, around which it had identified an information campaign showing signs of Russian interference.
Regarding the building’s purpose, Ukraine’s National Guard commander, Oleksandr Pivnenko, told UNIAN that it was a temporary accommodation facility where mobilized men completed administrative procedures before being transferred to training centers (archived here). The National Guard’s 1st Azov Corps confirmed that the unit using the premises was part of its structure. In its report from the scene, Slidstvo.Info quotes a veteran who entered the house with Kyrylo Budanov and said he personally saw no torture facilities. However, this testimony alone is not enough to rule out the possibility that acts of violence had occurred.
The available information about some servicemen’s injuries also remains incomplete. A roundup published by Shelter reports that journalists observed possible signs of injuries on some men, despite their statements that they had not been beaten (archived here). One reportedly explained that he had injured his own arm. According to the police, another man’s bruises resulted from a road accident. These explanations do not independently establish how the injuries were sustained. On the basis of the information currently available, we therefore lack sufficiently specific and corroborated evidence to determine whether torture took place in the building or to describe it as an Azov “torture center”. The investigations opened into possible abuses by military personnel are intended to clarify, among other things, the accommodation conditions and the treatment of the men who were there.
Conclusion
The visibly distressed teenager in the video is a protester who was at the scene and fell from a wall, rather than a “prisoner” in the supposed Azov regiment prison in Kyiv, as shown by other videos published online and identifiable details in the footage.
Note: The cover image was created using artificial intelligence, and the passage from the Ukrainian-language article was translated into Greek with the assistance of artificial intelligence.