About 600 people are being held hostage in Kherson region, mostly journalists and public activists, said Tamila Tasheva, permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

"According to our information, there are about 600 people in the territory of Kherson region who are actually hostages and are placed in specially equipped basements, in fact dungeons… In Kherson, in these basements, there are, according to our information, about 300 people, the rest are on the territory of Kherson region. It is worth noting that they are really mostly journalists and activists," she said at a briefing at the Ukraine– Ukrinform media center on Tuesday.

At the same time, Tasheva clarified that it is about those public activists who organized pro-Ukrainian rallies on the territory of Kherson and the region and were responsible for communication with large groups of people.

"According to our information, they are being held in inhumane conditions, they are being tortured. Witnesses report the screams they heard while passing by the places where such illegal activities are taking place against our citizens," the permanent representative stressed.

In addition, according to her, some people are being taken from the territory of Kherson region to Crimea.

"This is both the Simferopol pretrial detention center and Sevastopol. There are both civilian hostages there, and, according to our information, there are also prisoners of war. Or some of the people who left Mariupol, during filtration measures on the administrative border with Crimea, were also detained and taken to the Simferopol pretrial detention center," Tasheva explained.