Ukrainian city of Kherson fully under Russian control

Kherson, Mar 15: A crackdown on protesters and civic officials is underway in the first major Ukrainian city seized by Russia, according to multiple sources. Occupying troops or security elements working for the new military administration in Kherson have been seen marching one person out of his home with a hood placed over his head.

 

 

 

The Kremlin’s newly-imposed regime has been in charge since March 2, with reports of troops killing civilians and looting stores in the southern port, which lies close to Crimea and the Black Sea. Hundreds of protesters, officials and those connected to the Ukrainian military and police are said to have been detained. The imposition of Moscow’s rule follows accounts of hundreds of bodies being left on the streets after Russian forces overcame regular Ukrainian units and encountered lightly-armed territorial defence fighters.

 

 

 

On Friday media reported how occupying troops were imposing their rule in the shipbuilding centre, a key strategic point, with long queues for food and petrol as supplies of essential goods ran low. The husband of a woman with family in Kherson has spoken to contacts in the city who have given disturbing accounts of life under the new regime. The man, who lives in France with his wife, said: ‘We have heard that there might have been 200 to 300 arrests after the protests. ‘I don’t have any way to verify that number but a block away from where my mother-in-law lives they went to someone’s house and they took a guy, they took him out with a hood or sack over his head. ‘People in the neighbourhood reported the incident.

 

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‘They [the Russians] are arresting people from the police, people who are identified as potential leaders, to scare people, to force people not to come out to protest.’ The city council is said to have resigned after the new administration proposed a referendum on whether Kherson should become an independent republic. The move would make the city similar to the self-declared ‘people’s republics’ held by Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donbass region.