Die südukrainische Stadt Cherson ist die bisher einzige grössere Stadt, die das russische Militär vollständig erobert hat. Die rund 300’000 Einwohner sind mehrheitlich russischsprachig. Inzwischen sind die meisten Armeekräfte wieder abgezogen und die russische Nationalgarde (Rosgwardija), die dem Innenministerium unterstellt ist, hat die Kontrolle in der Stadt übernommen. Die Einwohner von Cherson protestieren dennoch hartnäckig gegen das Besatzungsregime. Sie skandieren Slogans wie «Wir müssen nicht ‘befreit’ werden» und «Wir müssen nicht entnazifziert werden».
Die oppositionelle russische Internetplattform «Meduza», die von Lettland aus betrieben wird, hat mit dem in Cherson lebenden Journalisten Konstantin Rischenko ein Interview geführt und dieses in russischer und englischer Sprache veröffentlicht.
Wir publizieren hier den Anfang des Gesprächs mit Rischenko in englischer Übersetzung. Die Fortsetzung kann auf dem folgenden Link zu «Meduza» gelesen werden. «Meduza» wird auf dem Internet in Russland blockiert und ist deshalb dringend auf Spenden aus dem Ausland angewiesen. (R. M)
Are there a lot of Russian soldiers in Kherson right now?
For the past two days, ever since people started holding rallies protesting the occupation, all Russian troops have left the city. All of Kherson is racking their brains, trying to understand why. My guess is that they’re doing this to avoid accusations of causing a humanitarian crisis, so they can then come back and provide aid to make themselves look good.
Instead of the troops, we now have the Rosgvardiya [Russian National Guard] and its SOBR [Special Rapid Response Units] with riot vans.
Is there fighting? Are they targeting civilian objects?
The fighting continues but luckily, it’s currently taking place outside of the city limits. Civilian targets are not currently being shelled, but when they were taking the city, they were bombing people’s homes and grocery stores. In Nova Kakhovka [another town in the Kherson region], either Rosgvardiya or SOBR forces attempted to disperse a rally using sting ball grenades, they were indiscriminately firing on the crowd with rubber bullets. Today, we learned that one person was killed there.
How are the food supplies?
People are panicked, so they are taking everything off the shelves. This is normal in this kind of situation. My sense is that we are heading for a humanitarian disaster, because only people with money were able to stockpile enough food. The poorer ones are already starting to starve.
We are in dire need of medicines, especially those for the chronically ill and cancer patients. These medicines are rare, before, they had to be specially ordered, and now they’re basically impossible to find. You can’t get them because the city is blockaded.
The Russian troops created the blockade by demonstratively not touching the population, but also not allowing us to leave the city to get supplies. At the same time, they periodically offer us «humanitarian aid» from Crimea. Nobody wants to accept this on principle. Even if people have no food at all, they would rather ask for some from their neighbors or in chat groups.
The occupiers’ logic is simple: we will be violently peaceful, we won’t touch you, we’ll just lay in wait until you get so hungry that you accept our aid, and then we will take photos of you and use them to spread disinformation through every channel, like, «Kherson and the [Kherson] region want to be part of the Russian Federation».
What is going on with the humanitarian corridors?
No one is providing them for us. It’s impossible to evacuate no matter how much you want to. We are literally blockaded. There are rumors that people are managing to escape in the direction of Mykolayiv through the swamps. But this is only a handful of people. Most likely, they’re taking the hunting and fishing trails that nobody knows except them.