After Russian forces withdrew from the occupied territories around Kyiv in early April, they left behind scenes of horror and wounded communities. But in Hersonissos – a large city with a large shipbuilding industry, located at the confluence of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea near the annexed Crimea by Russia – the occupying forces took a different course. “Soldiers patrol and walk in silence. “They do not shoot people in the streets,” said Olga, a local teacher, in a telephone interview last month following the blockade by Russian forces. “They are trying to give the impression that they are coming in peace to free us from something.” “It’s a little scary,” said 63-year-old Alexandros, who, like other residents, gave only his first name for fear of retaliation. “But there is no panic, people are helping each other. “There is a very small minority of people who are happy that it is under Russian control, but most of all, no one wants Hersonissos to become part of Russia.” While the city has so far escaped the atrocities committed elsewhere, daily life is far from normal. After Russia occupied Kherson and the surrounding area, all access was cut off. Kherson is now suffering from a severe shortage of medicines, cash, dairy and other foodstuffs, and Ukrainian officials warn that the region could face a “humanitarian catastrophe.” Russia has blocked all humanitarian aid except its own, which troops hand over to Russian state television cameras and which many residents refuse to accept. Without cash deliveries to Kherson banks, the circulation of the Ukrainian national currency is declining and damaged communication networks mean that credit card payments often fail. Access to Ukrainian television has been blocked and replaced by Russian state channels. A strict traffic ban has been imposed. Residents believe that Russian troops have not yet besieged or terrorized the city – as they did in Bucha and Mariupol – because they plan to hold a referendum on the creation of a so-called “Kherson People’s Republic” like the pro-Russian secessionist territories in eastern Ukraine. Ballot papers are already being printed for a vote in early May, Ukrainian human rights ombudswoman Lyudmila Denisova warned this month. In a speech to the nation on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke directly to residents of the occupied Peninsula, accusing Russia of plotting an orchestrated referendum and urging residents to be careful about personal data they share with Russians. there should be attempts to falsify votes. . “It simply came to our notice then. “Be careful,” he said. The mayor of Kherson Igor Kolykhaiev joined the choir of warnings, saying in an interview with Zoom on Ukrainian television that such a vote would be illegal since Kherson remains officially part of Ukraine. Russia has been silent on any plans to hold a referendum in Kherson, with Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko saying this week that he was not aware of any such proposal. But there is cause for concern. In 2014, a controversial referendum in Crimea amid Russian annexation was widely believed to have been rigged, with results showing that almost 97% of voters supported joining Russia. A number of Russian actions this week have added to the growing sense of panic in Kherson. The mayor said on social media on Monday that Russian troops had occupied the town hall, where the Ukrainian flag was no longer flying. On Tuesday, the Russians replaced the mayor with their own nominee. A prominent Russian commander, Lt. Gen. Rustam Minnekayev, has announced plans to take “complete control” of southern Ukraine and Donbas, Russia’s predominantly Russian-speaking industrial hub, with the aim of building a land route to Crimea. And Ukrainian military intelligence has said that Russia intends to violently mobilize locals, including doctors, in the southern territories to support the Russian military effort. Hersonissos is a city of strategic importance and the gateway to wider control of the south. From Kherson, Russia could launch a stronger offensive against other southern cities, including Odessa and Krivy Rih. The occupation of the Kherson region will also maintain Russia’s access to the northern Crimean canal. Following the annexation, Ukraine cut off water from the canal, which flows from the Dnieper River to Crimea and previously supplied 85% of the peninsula’s needs. Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Penta Center think tank in Kyiv, says the Russian military’s softer behavior in Kherson is due to the fact that units have been deployed in Crimea and separatists from Donetsk and Luhansk, who are either Ukrainians or close relations with the region. there. “Therefore, there were no atrocities,” he said. The situation in the surrounding area of Hersonissos, however, tells a very different story – with daily reports of kidnappings, torture, killings or rapes. Thousands of people have been deprived of electricity, water and gas. “The situation in the Kherson area is much worse and much more tragic,” said Oleh Baturin, a local journalist. “Hersonissos is a big city and there are not that many soldiers. It is easier for them to take control of the villages. they are defenseless. ” On April 19, Russian forces opened fire on the villages of Velyka Oleksandrivka and Rybalche, killing civilians and destroying homes, the Kherson District Attorney’s Office said. One week earlier, Russian troops shot and killed seven people in a residential building in the village of Pravdyne. “After that, intending to cover up the crime, the occupier blew up the house with the bodies of those executed,” the report said. Russian troops have also abducted local activists, journalists and war veterans, according to Kolykhaiev, the mayor of Kherson, who said more than 200 people had been abducted. Among them was Baturin, who was arrested near his home in Kahovka, 90 km east of Hersonissos. The journalist was meeting an acquaintance from another village when a group of Russian soldiers attacked him at the train station. He was held in solitary confinement for a week, Baturin said, interrogating him daily. the soldiers asked for the names of the organizers of the anti-occupation demonstrations, as well as the local soldiers and veterans. From other cells he heard sounds of torture. After his release he left the occupied areas with his family. “If I had stayed, I’m absolutely sure they would have come for me again,” Baturin said by telephone last week from Ukrainian-controlled territories after his escape. Analyst Fesenko says the draft referendum shows Russia’s intention to occupy the region in the long run. “In Crimea and Donbass, Russia had the support of the local population, but this is not the case in southern Ukraine, where Ukrainians want to live in Ukraine. “And that means that in the event of a long-term occupation, Russia is in danger of facing a broad partisan movement,” Fesenko said. During the first weeks of the occupation, thousands of protesters gathered daily in the central square of Kherson, dressed in Ukrainian flags and holding placards reading “This is Ukraine.” Videos on social media showed people screaming at Russian tanks and heavily armed soldiers. The protests now take place every week. On Wednesday, Russian troops used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters. Olga, the teacher, participates regularly. He used to speak Russian, now he refuses to pronounce the language. “I will never be able to communicate with the Russians again. “How can I feel about the people who are bombing maternity hospitals and children?” he said. “We were flourishing – and now our lives have been ruined.” Mayor Kolykhaiev said that after warnings of a Russian referendum and mobilization there was a panicked rush to leave. “The queues of people who want to leave our city have increased to five kilometers,” he said, adding that about a third of the pre-war population of the city of 284,000 has fled. After Zelenskyy’s speech to the nation, Olga sent a WhatsApp message to the AP: “The situation in Hersonissos is tense. My family and I want to leave … but now the Russian soldiers do not allow it at all. It is becoming more and more dangerous here. ” Late Monday night, Kolykhaiev wrote on Facebook that armed Russian soldiers entered the Kherson City Council building, removed the keys and replaced the guards with their own. On Tuesday, the mayor posted again, saying he had refused to cooperate with the new administration appointed by Russian regional military commander Oleksandr Kobets. “I live in Hersonissos with the inhabitants of Hersonissos,” he wrote. “I am with you.”
