As the conflict in southern Ukraine gathers momentum, Ukrainian officials claim that the humanitarian situation in occupied areas is deteriorating and Russian “terror” against civilians is intensifying.
On Monday Yurii Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Administration, said that “teachers, doctors, public utilities workers, heads of residential communities.” were all being targeted.
“Today it is very difficult to calculate the system of who is primarily at risk, because the categories of detainees are constantly expanding. Cases of detaining people on a tip from collaborators have become more frequent,” he said.
“The scale of the humanitarian catastrophe will only grow further … In Kherson itself, the situation is much easier than in villages and small towns, but in general, living conditions are already unbearable.”
As the occupied areas are virtually sealed off from the outside world, the claim is difficult to assess, as is the ability of civilians to leave those areas.
Sobolevsky acknowledged the difficulty faced by people in occupied areas under pressure to collaborate.
“The line between actions taken under conditions of extreme necessity and cooperation with the enemy is rather blurred,” he said. “People sincerely do not want to cross it, but absolutely rightly many do not understand exactly where it is located.”
Sobolevsky told the people of Kherson that the “armed forces are close.”
Ukraine’s military has stepped up attacks on Russian rear positions in Kherson recently and has made modest progress with an offensive from the north.
One senior Ukrainian official claimed Monday that several senior Russian officers had been killed in two heavy strikes in the Kherson region over the weekend.
“Despite the fact that our guys will work with surgical precision, there remain risks of collateral damage to civilian infrastructure, and most importantly, a risk to the life and health of civilians,” he said.
“To leave or stay is the decision and responsibility of each person,” Sobolevsky said.
“Some decide in principle to wait for the Armed Forces in their native walls, and this is also a form of protest and courage.”
Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol, which is also occupied, said the situation in the city is getting more difficult.
“The occupiers do not allow people to leave or enter the city,” he said.
Fedorov, who is no longer in Melitopol, claimed that after a relatively quiet period, Russian forces “are getting angry” and some were deserting.
“The collaborators have not been out [in public] since the military base was destroyed,” he said. “The main gaulеiters [collaborating officials] have not shown themselves in public for a week.”
Fedorov said organized evacuations are impossible as the Russians did not approve humanitarian convoys, but added that people using their own vehicles continued to make it to Zaporizhzhia.
“As of today around 150-200 people are evacuated from our temporarily occupied city daily.”
