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, Metro.co.uk told 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 hood or sack over his head.
‘People in the neighbourhood reported the incident.
‘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.
Cut off from existing Ukrainian supply routes and with no safe way to leave the city, residents are enduring food and medicine shortages.
The man’s mother-in-law, speaking from Kherson today, spoke of her fears but also said residents ‘will not bend’ to the Kremln’s rule.
‘The police and anyone who is linked to the military somehow is being hunted down,’ she told Metro.co.uk. ‘Probably those with hoods placed on their heads are being linked to the military or the police.’
The family does not know why the man was led away on Friday but Alla’s daughter said one activist had been detained and not heard from again, with the new administration also carrying out ‘raids’ on people’s homes to ‘talk to them and invite them to change position’.
Russian forces took control after a fierce, back-and-forth battle for a key bridge on the outskirts of the city, after which they broke through and carried out what has been described as a massacre of volunteer defence forces making a last line of defence.
The mum and daughter have been told by reliable sources that hundreds of bodies were left in the streets.
‘It was terrifying when they were defending the bridge,’ Alla said.
‘When the territorial defence defended the city a lot of them died.
‘They dug trenches and put up barricades and had Molotov cocktails and some guns, they were regular citizens who had basic training and hundreds of them died. There were more or less bodies all over the city.
‘The next day they got collected.’
Food supplies were said on Friday to have had only days left before stocks on supermarket shelves ran out completely, but sources since seem to have been found within the occupied area.
A video passed to Metro.co.uk shows a long line of people waiting patiently outside a food store, which has become a daily occurrence.
‘We can still hear shelling every night,’ Alla said.
‘We’re upset and frightened about what the future is going to bring.
‘We have food because there are supplies from nearby villages or trading centres which have managed to provide some vegetables, so it’s become a little bit easier. But we have to queue with hundreds of people every morning. The biggest problem is medication, particularly for people with chronic disease or diabetes or heart problems.
‘It’s impossible to buy anything any more.’
Alla, 60, was living alone but has since moved in with friends for safety and because they have a basement where they can shelter.
The reports echo separate accounts last week that 400 activists involved in an earlier protest against the occupation had been rounded up.
On Saturday, more than 1,000 protesters massed in the city’s main square, chanting ‘Ukrainia’ and displaying the country’s blue-and-yellow flag.
A protest held yesterday attracted fewer people but those present were no less bold in showing their open defiance to the newly-installed regime.
A video taken by one of those present shows demonstrators continuing to march, even as Russian soldiers fire warning shots.
At first, the city’s mayor had been able to make announcements on Facebook and carry out at least some functions of his role.
But activists are now opposing what they have described as a proposal for a ‘pseudo’ referendum in order to force the city and its remaining officials into compliance with Moscow.
Alla told Metro.co.uk that Russian soldiers tasked with enforcing the new order had been looting shops and drinking stolen alcohol at night.
‘The Russian army looted stores to get food and electronic devices, they took everything they wanted,’ she said. ‘And I have heard that many soldiers are drinking alcohol looted from the shops at night.’
The accountant also said it was impossible to leave Kherson as it was completely blockaded by Russian forces.
Tens of thousands of people have been able to leave other Ukrainian cities in humanitarian corridors opened up over the past week.
‘Russia is now trying to portray the first city it has captured as being waiting for its soldiers and they are trying to create this people’s republic,’ Alla said.
‘But the truth is the people are completely opposed to the occupiers and we will not bend to their rule. We don’t want to step out of Ukraine.’
Metro.co.uk has not named the family and used a false name for the mum in order to protect them from reprisals.
Residents were able to leave besieged Mariupol, another Black Sea port, in 160 private cars today after a ‘green’ route was opened up following days of failed attempts to secure evacuations out of the besieged city.
Kyiv was said by defence minister Oleksii Reznikov to look like ‘an apocalypse movie’ as Russian forces continued to edge towards the centre.
At least 636 civilians, including 46 children, have died in Ukraine so far, according to the United Nations. The real toll is likely to be much higher.
Vladimir Putin’s invasion has also triggered the biggest refugee crisis since the Second World War, with more than 2.5million people having left for neighbouring countries.
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