From FRENCH EBEL and JURAS CARMANAU
April 28, 2022 GMT
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-europe-moscow-referendums-crimea-7129a6d1f5ab81279ac7cf1a6be0996b
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) – Since Russian forces took over the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in early March, residents have felt the occupiers have a special plan for their city. Now, amid a crescendo of warnings from Ukraine that Russia plans to hold a fictitious referendum to transform the territory into a pro-Moscow “People’s Republic”, locals seem to have guessed correctly.
After Russian forces withdrew from the occupied areas around Kyiv in early April, they left behind scenes of horror and traumatized communities. But in Kherson, a large city with a large shipbuilding industry located at the confluence of the Dnieper and Black Seas near Russia’s annexed Crimea, the occupying forces took a different turn.
“The soldiers are patrolling and circling in silence. They are not shooting in the streets, “Olga, a local teacher, said in a telephone interview last month after the region was sealed 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 Alexander, 63, who, like other residents, gave only his first name for fear of reprisals. “But don’t panic, people are helping each other. There are very few people who are happy that it is under Russian control, but most of all no one wants Kherson to become part of Russia.
While the city has so far been spared the atrocities committed elsewhere, everyday life is far from normal. After Russia occupied Kherson and its environs, all access was cut off. Kherson is now suffering from a severe shortage of medicines, cash, dairy and other food products, and Ukrainian authorities warn that the region could face a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
Russia is blocking all humanitarian aid except its own, which troops are delivering to Russian state television and which many residents are refusing to accept. As there are no cash deliveries to the banks of Kherson, the circulation of the Ukrainian hryvnia is declining, and damaged communication networks mean that credit card payments often fail to pass. Access to Ukrainian television has been blocked and replaced by Russian state channels. Strict curfew 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 to create a so-called “Kherson People’s Republic” as pro-Russian breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine. Ballot papers are already being printed, which will run until early May, Ukrainian human rights ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova warned this month.
Addressing the nation on Friday, President Vladimir Zelensky spoke directly to residents of occupied Kherson, accusing Russia of planning an organized referendum and urging residents to be careful with personal data they share with Russian troops, warning that there may be attempts to falsify votes. . . “It’s a reality. Be careful, “he said.
Kherson Mayor Igor Kolikhayev joined the warnings, saying in an interview with Zoom on Ukrainian television that such a vote would be illegal, as 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 unaware of such a proposal.
But there is cause for concern. In 2014, the disputed referendum in Crimea was considered falsified amid Russia’s annexation, with results showing that nearly 97% of voters support joining Russia.
A series of Russian actions this week added to the growing sense of panic in Kherson. The mayor announced on social media on Monday that Russian troops had taken over the town hall, where the Ukrainian flag is no longer flying. On Tuesday, the Russians replaced the mayor with their own appointee.
Prominent Russian commander Major General Rustam Minekayev has announced plans to take “full control” of southern Ukraine and Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial center of eastern Ukraine, in order to create a land corridor to Crimea. And Ukrainian military intelligence says Russia intends to forcibly mobilize local people, including doctors, in the southern occupied territories to support Russian military efforts.
Kherson is a strategically important city and a gateway to wider control in the south. From Kherson, Russia could launch a more powerful offensive against other southern cities, including Odessa and Kryvyi Rih.
The occupation of the Kherson region will also preserve Russia’s access to the North Crimean Canal. Following the annexation, Ukraine cut off water from the canal that flows from the Dnieper River to Crimea and previously provided 85% of the peninsula’s needs.
Vladimir Fesenko, a political analyst at the Penta Center think tank in Kyiv, says the softer behavior of the Russian military in Kherson is because parts of Crimea and separatists from Donetsk and Luhansk, who are either ethnic Ukrainians or have close ties to region there. “Therefore, there were no atrocities,” he said.
However, the situation in the vicinity of the Kherson region tells a completely different story – with daily reports of abductions, torture, murder or rape. Thousands of people are without electricity, water and gas.
“The situation in the Kherson region is much worse and much more tragic,” said Oleh Baturin, a local journalist. “Kherson is a big city and there aren’t 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 Velika Alexandrovka and Ribalche, killing civilians and damaging homes, the Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office said. A week earlier, Russian soldiers shot dead seven people in a residential building in the village of Pravdine. “Then, with the intention of covering up the crime, the occupier blew up the house with the bodies of the executed inside,” the report said.
Russian soldiers have also abducted local activists, journalists and war veterans, according to Kolikhaev, the mayor of Kherson, who said more than 200 people had been abducted.
Among them was Baturin, who was captured near his home in Kakhovka, 60 miles (90 kilometers) east of Kherson. The journalist was meeting an acquaintance from another village when a group of Russian soldiers attacked him at the station. He was kept in solitary confinement for a week, Baturin said, questioning him every day; the soldiers asked for the names of the organizers of the anti-occupation protests, as well as local soldiers and veterans. From other cells he could hear sounds of torture.
After his release, he fled the occupied territories with his family.
“If I had stayed, I am absolutely sure that they would have come for me again,” Baturin said on the phone last week from Ukrainian-controlled territory after fleeing.
Fesenko, an analyst, says the referendum plan shows Russia’s intention to occupy the region in the long run.
“In Crimea and Donbas, Russia had the support of the local population, but this is not the case in southern Ukraine, where Ukrainians want to live in Ukraine. This means that in the event of a prolonged occupation, Russia risks facing a broad guerrilla movement, “Fesenko said.
Despite the high risk, thousands of protesters gathered every day in Kherson’s central square during the first weeks of the occupation, dressed in Ukrainian flags and holding placards reading “This is Ukraine.” Videos on social media show people shouting at Russian tanks and heavily armed soldiers. Protests are now held weekly, and on Wednesday Russian troops used tear gas and stunning grenades to disperse them.
Olga, the teacher, regularly participates. She used to speak Russian and now refuses to speak the language. “I will never be able to communicate with Russians again. How can I feel about people bombing maternity homes and children? ” she said. “We prospered – and now they have ruined our lives.
There was also some Ukrainian resistance. In what appeared to be a Ukrainian counterattack, a series of explosions shook the TV tower late Wednesday, temporarily shutting down Russian channels, Ukrainian and Russian news organizations reported.
Still, there is a palpable sense of growing trepidation among the city’s residents. Mayor Kolikhayev said there had been a panicked rush to leave after warnings of a Russian referendum and mobilization. “The queues of people who want to leave our city have grown to five kilometers,” he said, adding that about a third of the city’s pre-war population of 284,000 had fled.
After Zelensky’s address to the nation, Olga sent a message on WhatsApp to the AP: “The situation in Kherson is tense. My family and I want to leave … but now the Russian soldiers are not allowing it at all. It’s getting more dangerous here. ”
Late Monday night, Kolikhayev wrote on Facebook that armed Russian soldiers entered the Kherson Municipal Council building, took the keys and replaced the security guard with his own.
On Tuesday, the mayor sent a message again, saying he had refused to co-operate with the new administration appointed by Russia’s regional military commander, Alexander Kobets.
“I am staying in Kherson with the people of Kherson,” he wrote. “I am with you.”
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