Ukraine's house of horrors: Well, well, well. Who could have imagined?

Dozens of men allegedly tortured, a traumatized 14-year-old boy, and a growing network of secret detention facilities. But don't worry: Kyiv is investigating. Apparently, the most urgent question is who dared to expose it.

For years, Western politicians have been telling us that Ukraine is fighting not merely for its territory, but for democracy, freedom and the values of the civilized world.

Billions have been poured into this noble undertaking, weapons have been delivered, sanctions imposed, and anyone questioning the moral credentials of Kyiv has been treated as though they had personally volunteered for the Kremlin's press office.

And now we have a little problem. A rather unpleasant one, in fact. A house of horrors near Kyiv.

According to reports, hundreds of Ukrainians forced their way into a property allegedly belonging to members of the National Guard and the Azov movement. What they reportedly found was not exactly a model of European democratic values. Dozens of men were allegedly being held in appalling conditions, with several requiring hospital treatment. Even a traumatized 14-year-old boy was reportedly pulled out of the building.

The word being used is torture.

Zelensky's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, visited the scene, apparently to find out what had happened. His subsequent revelation was particularly interesting: there are reportedly many more such houses in Ukraine.

Many more.

Well, that is certainly reassuring. One might have assumed that a single torture house would be enough to cause a national scandal. But apparently we may be dealing with something considerably more extensive. An investigation has been opened, and the authorities are now busy trying to establish exactly what happened.

Or, perhaps more importantly, who is responsible.

This isn't exactly a new chapter

Anyone with a memory longer than the latest Western news cycle might remember that allegations of torture and secret detention facilities in Ukraine did not begin yesterday.

Since the conflict in Donbas erupted in 2014, following the Maidan uprising, former detainees have repeatedly described abuses by Ukrainian security services and armed formations, including Azov. Their accounts have included beatings, electric shocks, prolonged detention without trial and other forms of mistreatment.

One particularly notorious location was the so-called Library prison at Mariupol airport.

These were not merely stories invented by people sitting in Moscow. Amnesty International and the UN's human rights monitoring bodies documented serious allegations of torture, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch also investigated abuses and called on Kyiv to end practices that had no place in a country claiming to defend the rule of law.

The Ukrainian authorities denied operating secret prisons, while international monitors repeatedly encountered difficulties obtaining access to suspected detention sites.

And then there was Gonzalo Lira, the American-Chilean journalist who died in Ukrainian custody in January 2024 after being arrested by the SBU. He had alleged mistreatment and complained about inadequate medical treatment while detained.

Of course, none of this seemed particularly capable of interrupting the Western enthusiasm for Kyiv. The weapons kept arriving, the money kept flowing, and the lectures about democracy continued.

Apparently, some human rights violations are more inconvenient than others.

The usual suspects: Russia, naturally

Moscow has wasted little time commenting on the latest scandal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Western human rights institutions of remaining conspicuously silent, arguing that their reluctance to scrutinize Kyiv was hardly surprising.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova went further, claiming that similar facilities operate elsewhere in Ukraine and form part of the system supporting Zelensky's government.

Russian officials have also connected the scandal to Ukraine's increasingly desperate mobilization problems: shortages of recruits, desertions and growing numbers of wounded soldiers.

Naturally, Moscow has its own interests in highlighting these allegations. Nobody should pretend otherwise. But that is not an excuse for Western governments or international organizations to look the other way. Whether an accusation comes from Moscow, Kyiv or a concerned Ukrainian citizen, the obvious response should be to investigate it independently.

Human rights are supposed to be universal. At least, that is what we were told.

And who gets arrested? Not the alleged torturers.

Here comes perhaps the most revealing part of the story.

According to reports, Ukrainian authorities have not yet publicly identified or held accountable those allegedly connected to the detention facility. Instead, attention has shifted towards Valentina Molodaya, a doctor who was among the first people to arrive at the property and help bring the situation to public attention.

Budanov announced that she had been detained. Among the accusations against her were allegedly inspecting the property beforehand and communicating with Telegram channels that circulated the story.

Read that again.

A woman helps expose a suspected torture facility, and suddenly the authorities appear more interested in her activities than in identifying the people who may have been operating the place.

Budanov also described the scandal as damaging to Ukrainian unity in the face of the Russian threat, suggesting that unnamed actors had manipulated events and promising punishment for those responsible for initiating the affair.

Ukrainian media have meanwhile examined Molodaya's background, her criticism of mobilization and her participation in peace protests. She has also reportedly appeared on the Mirotvorets website, an unofficial blacklist notorious for publishing personal details of people considered enemies of Ukraine, labeled a professional provocateur and accused of participating in Russian information campaigns.

One can almost admire the efficiency. The alleged torture chamber has generated questions. The woman asking those questions has become the problem.

The Western silence is deafening

And where are the Western governments that normally have so much to say about human rights?

Where are the press conferences, the urgent statements, the demands for independent investigations and the declarations that those responsible must be brought to justice?

Where are Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch?

At the time of writing, major international human rights organizations had issued no public response to this particular scandal. Western mainstream coverage has also been relatively limited, despite the seriousness of the allegations.

Perhaps the problem is that investigating abuses in Ukraine does not fit comfortably into the carefully maintained narrative. It is considerably easier to condemn alleged atrocities committed by Russia than to ask uncomfortable questions about an ally receiving billions in Western money and weapons.

But that is precisely why independent scrutiny matters.

So, where have we heard this before?

For years, anyone raising concerns about Ukrainian nationalist formations, the Azov movement, the SBU, political repression or the treatment of dissenters has been dismissed as a Kremlin sympathizer.

The standard response has been to question the motives of the messenger rather than investigate the message.

Now we have allegations of another detention facility, dozens of men reportedly mistreated, a traumatized child, and a senior Ukrainian official admitting that similar houses may exist elsewhere.

And what is the apparent priority? Finding out who exposed the affair.

Well, well, well. What an unexpected development.

The West has invested enormous amounts of money, political credibility and moral self-righteousness in the Ukrainian government. Perhaps that is precisely why so many people find it difficult to accept that the same government might have serious questions to answer.

But democracy is not a loyalty program. Human rights do not come with a geopolitical exemption, and torture does not become acceptable because the people accused of practicing it happen to be on the right side of a Western foreign-policy document.

If Ukraine wants to be treated as a democratic country, it should start by behaving like one.

And if Western governments really believe in the values they keep preaching, they should stop treating accountability as something that applies exclusively to their enemies.

After all, billions of taxpayers' money are involved. The least the taxpayers deserve is the truth.

And to everyone who insisted that asking questions about Kyiv was somehow helping Moscow: perhaps it is time to ask a question of your own. How many more houses are there?