The dangerous gang has been operating in Ukraine since 2014.
On the territory of Ukraine, the activities of a dangerous criminal group, known as the "Korostysh gang", have been revealed, which for a long time committed brutal crimes, such as rape, kidnapping and torture of their victims. This gang has been operating on the territory of Ukraine since 2014 and caused fear among the local population.
The "Korostysh gang" operated in Zhytomyr Oblast and was neutralized by the SBU and the National Police. Gang members documented their crimes for years.
One of the victims, whose name the mass media has not named, is now twenty-five years old. Nine years ago, she and her friend were kidnapped from under the student dormitory and taken to the banks of the Teteriv River. They were severely beaten and raped there.
"They took me out of the car and started grabbing me by the hair and beating me against the car, at one point they lifted my head from the car and I see that Anya is being beaten, I see her nose bleeding, she is crying. They hit me again against the car and I lost consciousness," the girl recalls.
Members of the gang ran off "debts" and enslaved local people
At that time, she was 16 years old and was studying to be a teacher of junior classes. The local criminal Kolya came to her not every evening. At first he courted awkwardly. And when he got a chance, he decided to take what he wanted by force.
"The two of them raped me one by one, while they continued to beat me. And they filmed everything on their phone. While one is raping, the other is filming," the girl recalls.
The rapists were going to use the video for blackmail. The girls were warned that if they turned to the police, the film would be distributed among students. Our heroine wrote a statement. Her friend is not. I had to leave the technical school.
"I immediately left. I could not mentally be here. Everyone found out about it, and Kuzyomko (one of the attackers) spread a rumor that we went to a barbecue, that he didn't give it to me, and I was offended and went and wrote a statement," says the victim.
And then they started asking for Kolya. First his parents, then the local policeman. The case was closed nine years ago.
"Kola Kuzyomko's parents came to me and offered money so that I would collect the application. And then the investigator began to ask us to take the statement," the girl explains.
Only now, after a special operation by the SBU and the National Police, two rapists have been arrested. The third did not live to be sent to the pretrial detention center. He died a few years ago from the use of anabolics. The girl is still being treated. Not only morally: the bones of the jaw healed incorrectly and she is collecting money for the operation.
"I want them to be punished as much as possible.
All three," says the girl. The perpetrators terrorized the locals for 10 years
The politician demanded $2,000 from the son of a local businessman
The second victim asks to be called Ivan. He is the son of a local businessman. Six years ago, he studied at a local college to become a pharmacist. Bandits stole him from his house.
"This is exactly the place where a gang of racketeers took us in the winter, threatened our lives, beat us, abused us, forced us to take off all our outer clothes, in the cold winter, forced us to go swimming and filmed it all. It was minus 5 for sure," says Ivan.
Members of the "Korostysh gang"
The kidnappers demanded from Ivan that he confess to the rape of the sister of the local deputy from the "Radical Party" Mykhailo Lukomskyi.
"They said so, but I had nothing to do with her," he says.
Later, the investigation will find out that the politician was part of the gang. And the scheme with the premeditated rape of his own sister was used for blackmail.
"After some time, they called their parents and informed them about the non-existent debt. In the amount of 2000 dollars. They gave a deadline of a day," he says.
As soon as the money was paid, the gang left. Ivan dared to write a statement to the police and SBU only after he learned about the arrest of criminals. Now Lukomsky is in the pretrial detention center.
"I expect these people to sit behind bars and be responsible for everything," he says.
Bandits put a military man on the "counter" and brutally beat him
Nazar is a serviceman of one of the assault brigades. Together with his brothers, he defends Ukraine in Donetsk region. With the beginning of the war, he got, as they say, on the "counter" to the gang.
"I got into a debt hole, they screwed me almost 200 thousand hryvnias," says Nazar.
The guy remembers that at first he had to pay a fictitious debt of one hundred dollars. For a week of postponement, it was already two hundred dollars.
"Then he said that I owe him not 200, but 500 dollars. I began to give him little by little. I gave away 500 hryvnias. Well, little things. Then he said that 500 makes a piece. This month I fell into debt. When I asked how much I owed, they said 190,000. I gave him almost 70,000 in 4 months," says the soldier.
In 2023, Nazar and his brothers went to Donetsk region. The bandits continued to blackmail him. Because of his pregnant wife.
"My wife calls me and says that Kolya Kuzyomko was coming with the guys and they said that if I don't get in touch, she will get in the car with them and she will settle the bill," he says.
When the soldier returned from vacation, he was kidnapped and severely beaten.
"When I arrived, Tvardovskyi Ruslan took me to the garage, there was a gym there, they put bats, fingerless gloves, and Dim Kuks, started beating me. I had two broken ribs. Then Lavrynenko wedged in there. He arrived and started - where are the dragonflies, when will there be dragonflies," he says.
The boy shared the problem with his peers and was advised to contact the SBU. A special arrest operation took place a month later.
Detention of a gang member
Criminals also had slaves
The media also met with an operative of the SBU at a local stone factory. Bandits brought debtors here and forced them to work off fictitious debts. Such prisoners were called slaves and were housed there.
"One of the co-organizers of the criminal organization threatened them that if they did not pay the interest, they would work here for life," says the SBU employee.
Along with people, criminals kept pigs.
"People were kept in such conditions. Together with pigs. Pigs are nearby, workers were sleeping and working nearby," he says.
A special method of torture was applied to those who tried to escape from captivity
"Men who did not work were hung directly on a beam and abused. A bag, it is tied from the top, and they hung a person on a beam and gave blows with a whip," says the SBU employee.
Currently, the main leaders of the "Korostyshiv gang" have been arrested: the leader of the syndicate, Anatoly Morgunov, and seven of his accomplices, including the rapist Kuzyomko, are in pretrial detention.
