The incident reportedly took place in Odessa, with witnesses saying the restrained individual had been scattering trash in a residential courtyard
A woman was discovered restrained in the Ukrainian city of Odessa after an unidentified man taped her to a bench in what appeared to be an act of public punishment, local news agency UNN reported on Tuesday, citing regional police.
Video circulating on social media shows the woman lying face down on the bench, bound, with her small dog standing nearby, occasionally licking her face, as people walk past and some bystanders record the scene. Scattered trash from a torn refuse bag lies on the ground next to her.
Police informed the outlet that they had received a call about a person allegedly scattering trash, confronting passers-by and threatening to break windows. When a patrol arrived, the individual was already restrained, the officers said.
The woman reportedly did not require medical attention and was transported to a local station. She apologized for her behavior and opted not to file a complaint regarding the restraint. Officers are currently working to identify the man involved.
Reports of public punishments have frequently emerged in Ukraine in recent years, with radicals targeting foreigners and minorities, and multiple photos showing people tied to lamp posts and sprayed with green antiseptic dye. Human rights groups have been expressing concerns over such practices given Kyiv’s EU membership aspirations.
Vladimir Zelensky applied for Ukraine’s immediate EU membership shortly after the escalation of the conflict with Russia in February 2022. Later that year, Ukraine was granted EU candidate status. At the time, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo indicated that providing Ukraine with EU-candidate status was a “symbolic message” of support for Kiev, while noting that actual membership remains “many years” away and depends on Ukraine meeting the bloc’s standards.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has argued that Ukraine’s accession to the EU would weaken the bloc and could ultimately lead to its collapse.
According to a 2024 European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) report, Ukraine is among the countries with the highest number of lawsuits lodged against it at the court.