Ukrainian President Zelenskyy visits territory reclaimed from Russia

Amna Nawaz:

The Ukrainian counteroffensive continues today at great pace across Eastern and Southern Ukraine.

President Zelenskyy and top members of his war council visited troops and the traumatized civilians liberated from Russian rule. It's a time of relief for most, tempered by great sadness.

And Nick Schifrin was there, reporting tonight from Balakliya the northeast of Ukraine.

And a warning:

Some images and accounts in this story are graphic.

Nick Schifrin:

In liberated Izyum scarred and smashed by Russian occupation, the Ukrainian military now guarantees security.

And Ukraine's president vows to restore the rule of law that Russia stole. Speaking to the soldiers who liberated Izyum this past weekend, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would receive all its territory.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

It might be possible to occupy the territories of our country, but it's certainly impossible to occupy our people.

Nick Schifrin:

Ukraine's anthem promises to "lay down soul and body for our freedom." Today, the city once crucial to Russia's offensive once again flies the blue and gold.

Zelenskyy then traveled up the road to another city liberated last week, Balakliya. He awarded soldiers for their service and success.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy (through translator):

The people of Ukraine will never forgive. But you, please, never forgive any of those traitors and terrorists.

Nick Schifrin:

We caught up with him as he left.

Why was it important for you to come here today?

Volodymyr Zelenskyy:

It's very important.

For example, it's very important that our soldiers came back and the de-occupated our territories and our people. It means that the life came back. Ukraine is here. And that's very important, for me also important, because they do their important, strong and very dangerous work. And if our soldiers are here, also, it means I have to support people and soldiers.

Nick Schifrin:

In the past week, Ukraine has recaptured dozens of towns and more territory than Russia seized in the past five months.

One of the architects of that success is General Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Why do you think you have had the success you have had in Kharkiv?

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukrainian Army Commander (through translator):

Our operation was successful due to the mobility of our units, together with artillery fire and aviation support.

Nick Schifrin:

He said he was not worried about his troops becoming overstretched, and he vowed to expand operations into neighboring Donetsk and Luhansk, currently controlled by Russia.

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi (through translator):

We of course, are planning to continue our offensive. We have success. Our units are moving forward. The morale of the enemy is low.

Nick Schifrin:

But the wounds of occupation are deep. Residents jostle over handouts of badly needed food, and they are traumatized by Russian war crimes.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko is one of Zelenskyy's deputy chiefs of staff.

What kind of evidence are you finding now that you're able to get into some of these territories that was occupied by Russia?

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Zelenskyy Deputy Chief of Staff (through translator): We are documenting all of the war crimes that we find, because they're indeed horrific.

There are a lot of cases of such crimes that we see in the liberated areas just in the past few days, where locals start telling us where the bodies are hidden.

Nick Schifrin:

And, unfortunately, in this town, that's just down the road, a district police headquarters that became the occupiers' facility for detention.

This is where the Russian soldier slept?

Crime Scene Investigator:

Yes. Yes.

Nick Schifrin:

The Ukrainian intelligence officer begins a tour into the heart of darkness, the basement that became a Russian dormitory, with Russian cup of noodles and expired can food.

Investigators comb through with the Russians hastily left behind. They brush for fingerprints, hoping to identify soldiers for future criminal trials.

Upstairs, a crime scene investigator who asked to be kept anonymous shows me the holding cells. Each one held six to 13 Ukrainian prisoners. They marked each day into the wall and scratched their salvation. This is the lord's prayer, asking, deliver us from evil.

In the next cell, days turned into months.

So the prisoners kept a calendar. They marked how many days they have been in captivity.

Crime Scene Investigator (through translator):

Every person staying here was marking their days in, dates when they were brought in, as well as dates when they were transferred or taken for interrogation.

Nick Schifrin:

Those rooms came to symbolize Russian cruelty, where the devices of dehumanization still littered the floor.

Ukrainian police say that this room was used as interrogation and basically became a torture chamber. They point out a couple of things here, this string that was used for choking anybody they were talking to. This is the end of a baton that actually broke on one of the people they were interrogating.

And then, down here, Russian forces used electricity against Ukrainians they were questioning. And Ukrainian police say they're going to send all this evidence to the prosecutor general, with the hope of holding Russia accountable.

Who were they interrogating in this room?

Crime Scene Investigator (through translator):

They would target government officials, municipal officials, emergency workers, doctors, as well as law enforcement.

Nick Schifrin:

And local journalists. We found 69-year-old Anatoliy Harahatiy outside filming the source of his horror.

Can you tell me what your experience was during Russian occupation?

Anatoliy Harahatiy, Balakliya Journalist (through translator):

On may 28, they came to my home.

I'm sorry.

They took all of my equipment. And I spent here 100 days, 100 days.

Nick Schifrin:

Harahatiy usually films happier scenes for a historical archive. But when he filmed the Russian occupiers, they detained him.

Anatoliy Harahatiy (through translator):

They wanted me to work for them. They wanted me to post their propaganda on my YouTube channel, to betray Ukraine and praise Putin, to praise this — quote — "liberation army" and so on.

I refused. As a result — it's very difficult. They even wanted to execute me.

Nick Schifrin:

For others, Russia followed through on that threat. Here lies Maxam Shelikhan buried among those who died peacefully. Shelikhan was murdered in June by Russian interrogators. His brother was allowed to see his body in detention.

Svetlana is Maxam's mother.

Svetlana Shelikhan, Balakliya Resident (through translator):

He was taken into the cell. He was there for a split-second, and he said the body was still warm.

Nick Schifrin:

Svetlana is not here to mourn. She is here to watch the unwatchable, her son's body being exhumed. Investigators need to document how Russia tortured him in order to one day find justice.

But, until that day, in this war, Russia has stolen the dignity from even the dead.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin in Balakliya, Ukraine.