On the day of the seizure of the Kherson City Council building in March 2022, the now-deceased deputy mayor Anatoliy Khomenko gave the deputies the contact of a Russian security officer known as “Alpha”.
This was said in an interview with MOST by city council deputy Illia Karamalikov.
According to him, on March 2 Russian soldiers entered the city hall, introduced themselves as the “new authorities” and held a conversation in the mayor’s office, where, besides Ihor Kolykhaiev, his deputy Anatoliy Khomenko was also present.
After that, Karamalikov claims, it was Khomenko who handed out to the deputies the phone number of a Russian serviceman who was later identified as Rosgvardiya officer Oleksandr Naumenko.
“Khomenko handed it out to the deputies. He explained that the Russians demand that we leave our numbers,” says Karamalikov.
Later the serviceman himself, who was called “Alpha”, came out to those present and confirmed the requirement: everyone had to call him from their own numbers.
According to Karamalikov, this was perceived as a mandatory condition — if someone changed their number, such actions could be interpreted as an attempt to flee.
Karamalikov also noted that the deputies were effectively forced to comply with this demand.
It should be noted that Naumenko for some time ran the most brutal torture chamber that Russian forces set up during the temporary occupation of Kherson. It was located in the premises of Temporary Detention Facility No. 1. Naumenko is considered responsible for its creation.
People were illegally detained there, systematically beaten, and subjected to electric shock torture. The exact number of people who passed through the torture chamber is currently unknown. 241 people have already been recognized as victims, among them 28 women.
In addition, Naumenko is involved in the brutal dispersals of pro-Ukrainian rallies in Kherson.
In September 2022 the SBU notified him of suspicion in the cruel treatment of prisoners in the Kherson region.