by Martha Serafini
Olaf brings help from Mykolayiv: “The intruders try to present themselves as benefactors, but they have no control over administration and communication.” The Russians lock up the barracks, distribute food, but do not pay the police and officials
from our correspondent
MYKOLAIV «You are locked in the barracks. And guards the checkpoints. Every once in a while you’ll see someone in plain clothes being taken to the hospital with injuries. Besides, the Russians hide like rats ». Olaf the name is fictitious to protect his identity commutes every day between Kherson and Mykolaiv, along one of Ukraine’s most contested and dangerous roads, the one that connects the first city captured by the Russians to the Black Sea shipyard port. To bypass the Russian checkpoints, it takes six to nine hours to travel on it. “I try to bring food and help into the house,” he says.
Cherson, which took to the streets again just two days ago to protest the invader when the Russians opened fire on the demonstrators again. Kherson’s resistance to the Crimean reservoir at the mouth of the Dnipro after the 2014 annexation. And that the Orcs (the Russians, ed.) cannot afford to lose, because “if the Ukrainians do it for them take it back, it would really be over.” . Kherson hoped why, the Ukrainian army repulsed the attack on the village of Oleksandrivka, about twenty kilometers further north towards Mykolaiv, shot down a Russian Su34 fighter.
Those inside cannot speak freely. “The Russians are allowing civilians who want to leave the city to leave the city,” explains one of the city’s rabbis over the phone. But before he says goodbye, he clears his throat and explains: “I’m here to protect my community. That’s my job, don’t let me put anyone in danger.” According to Olaf, the Russians are blocking access to aid supplies and the opening of humanitarian corridors in Kherson for one simple reason. “Every now and then they distribute food from Crimea to get the sympathy of the population So whoever wants to can convince himself that the intruder is a benefactor».
To confirm this theory, one of the city’s few institutional voices remained active, that of the regional councilor Yury Sobolevsky, who speaks on Facebook about two important issues. The first: “The prices have increased tenfold”. Secondly, the salaries of civil servants. Because, apparently, after a month of occupation, the Russians have not paid wages to police officers, security guards, city employees and all those who actually make the city’s administration possible. And not only. “They have not taken control of the banks or telephone communications.”
To counter the dissidence, three days ago Putin’s media published pictures showing 30 people demonstrating with the Russian flag in Nova Kakhovka Square near Kherson. It still is. According to reports from the Southern Command, posters, maps, postcards, forms and other propaganda material were printed, again in Nova Kakhovka, with the aim of holding a socalled “referendum” on the establishment of the “Kherson People’s Republic”.
A consultation modeled on the one organized in Donbass in 2014 to try to create Moscowcontrolled local governments. However, the Ukrainian military spokesman called these attempts “pathetic”, all the more so considering that “the occupiers banned Ukrainians from attending protest rallies and threatened to cut off electricity, water, gas and heating”. The real concern is that the retaliation against those who don’t cooperate is much more severe. And the story of Julia, who fled to Odessa from Zelenka near Kherson, leaves no doubt.
“The Russians confiscate cars and beat people. They enter the houses by breaking down the doors, they take the food and everything they want ». And when asked if she knew of other types of violence, Yulia replied in a whisper: “There were kidnappings, also thanks to the information of some collaborators, but I didn’t see anything.” longer. There are not only cars with the BT license plates and the words Kinder. There are also vehicles with the inscription Cargo 300 and Cargo 200. “The first have injured people inside. The second corpses ». Then Olaf smiles. It’s time to leave. “I have to go. Kherson needs me. Kherson needs all of us.”
April 11, 2022 (change April 11, 2022 | 23:18)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED