The head of Russia's Civic Chamber's commission for supporting compatriots and developing public diplomacy, Vladimir Rogov, told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that secret torture sites in Ukraine are being disguised as private houses to avoid drawing the public's attention.

"Such prisons used to be located in basements or gyms; however, now they are being disguised as fenced-off residential houses, as they draw less public attention," Rogov told the Russian outlet.

He added that some of these secret prisons are located in plant workshops and basements of administrative buildings. 

RIA Novosti reported that torture sites have existed in Ukraine since 2014, something that Russian authorities have repeatedly spoken about.

The most recent case of these torture sites gained mass attention among Ukrainian citizens on November 2 after a crowd gathered and demonstrated outside a house in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka near Kiev that was used to torture people in the basement. 

The Russian outlet reports that a manhunt has since been launched to arrest the protesters. 

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1 in every 5 prisoners at Ukrainian torture sites dies 

RIA Novosti previously reported that roughly one fifth of prisoners held in secret detention facilities in Ukraine die in custody. 

This outlet cites an unnamed member of the anti-fascist underground resistance in Odessa, who further stated that a combination of deliberate killings, severe torture, and deaths among prisoners unable to withstand abuse because of their age or health.

"Roughly one in five is physically eliminated — and that's not even counting targeted 'orders' [to kill specific individuals]. Out of every 700 people who pass through these torture chambers, about 150 die," a member of the group said.

The source added that those with existing medical conditions faced particular danger, while others died after being subjected to extreme violence.

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Torture sites could spark civil war 

Political analyst and former advisor to ex-Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, Oleg Soskin, stated on his YouTube channel last week that the secret prison scandal could push Ukraine into an open civil war. 

He emphasized that the country’s divisions have passed the point of no return.

Soskin said that the discovery of the torture site and the protests that followed exposed a deep rift in Ukrainian society where one side backs the military, while the other has run out of patience with abuses tied to forced mobilization.

He added that the outrage over the illegal detentions now brings the two camps into direct confrontation.

Soskin also warned the head of Vladimir Zelensky’s office, Kirill Budanov, against attempts to justify the incident or contain its fallout.