Jubilant scenes have been filmed on the streets of Kherson since the recapture of the city by the Ukrainian army on Friday. In multiple videos, we see the population welcoming the soldiers with joy and hugging each other. But behind this joy, there are memories of the mistreatment and humiliation suffered during the eight months of Russian occupation.
“We only knew fear. We were afraid of everything,” Kherson resident Natalia told Sky News. “We were afraid of the sounds of the cars, we were afraid of using the phones, we hid everything, we hid our children.”
“We were terrified of the Russian army”
“We were terrified of the Russian army, of the soldiers who could enter our house at any moment, open the door as if they lived here and rob, kidnap, torture… It was terrible, I get goosebumps just talking. about,” say on CNN a resident.
A 15-year-old girl explains: also on cnnque les Russes l’ont kidnappée pour lui poser des questions sur la position des troupes militares ukrainiennes, ils “m’ont dit qu’ils allaient me couper les doigts. Je pensais que j’allais me faire violer”, déclare-t – she.
“It was terrible, the Russians threatened to kill me, to break my skull,” says an old woman. “They behaved like animals during the last few weeks. They took people for interrogation and beat them, accusing them of being Ukrainian spies,” said another woman.
On Sky News, Olga also explains that “many people disappeared” suddenly during the occupation. “They went to get water and they disappeared! They went to the market and they disappeared! They went to get medicine and they disappeared!”
In addition to the fear of death, the neighbors also recounted the humiliation suffered. “They stripped me four times, they left me several times without underwear,” This is how a young man explains on BFMTVand “they took my phone, they took my phones, it was forbidden.”
A Russian soldier ‘put a grenade under me’
Viktor Galak, 44, a resident of a town near Kherson, told AFP he was arrested by Russian soldiers on the streets of his town. A soldier approached him from behind and shot him near his feet, then forced him to lie on the ground where “they tied my arms and legs. Then one of them came and said he was going to put a grenade under me so that I don’t run away.”
Then he tells them that his daughter had already been killed and asks: “Why do you want to put a grenade under me? Do you want to kill us all or what? What is your goal? Are you fascists?” Then one of the Russian soldiers “put a grenade under me and they told me not to move because otherwise it was going to explode.”
The man was later released. Although he was relieved that the Russian soldiers had left the area, Viktor Galak nonetheless noted that “the Russian soldiers brought sweets, cans, food and everyone took it because nobody wanted to go hungry.” He also adds that the occupants “didn’t want to fight. They were sitting, not very happy to stay here, not to be with their families.”
With the return of the Ukrainian army to this area, hopes are high that life there will improve as many residents have been without water, electricity and gas for several months. “The occupiers have destroyed all the essential infrastructure,” lamented the Ukrainian president on Saturday night. The areas are also mined and people are advised to be very careful.
However, the fear of reprisals from Moscow is also mentioned, “we are preparing ourselves, and I think that today we are better prepared than eight months ago,” says Lesia Vasylenko, a Ukrainian deputy, on our antenna. “We are in a much stronger position, but we cannot relax, relax, we must always be ready.”
Source: BFM TV
