It was early one morning that life under Russian occupation became too harsh for Volodymyr Zhdanov. A rocket aimed at the Ukrainian army hit near his home in the city of Kherson, terrifying one of his two children.
His 8-year-old daughter "panicked and fled to the basement. It was 2 a.m. [she] was really scared," said Zhdanov. said. Zhdanov later fled the city on the Black Sea and here he lives in the capital, Kyiv, for three weeks.
Annexed by Moscow in 2014 Kherson, located north of the Crimean peninsula, was the first city to fall after the Russian invasion on 24 February. was. The harbor remains. At the center of the conflict, Ukraine's efforts to maintain critical access to the sea. For Russia, Kherson is an important point along the land route from the border to the peninsula.
Zhdanov and others who made the perilous journey to escape the region describe increasingly difficult conditions as part of Russia's arduous effort to establish permanent control.
Most of the streets in the city, which had a population of about 300,000 before the war, are deserted. Rumors swirl about the sudden disappearance of officials who refused to cooperate with Russian authorities, as well as moves of armed resistance.
Occupation forces patrol the market and warn those who attempt to use the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, for trading. Pro-Moscow officials are stationed in local and regional governments and police. Workers in various municipal services are under pressure to cooperate with Russian managers. Most schools were closed.
The supply of essential goods is uneven and most commercial activity has come to a halt. Medicines are in short supply and prices of other commodities are skyrocketing.
Many residents were determined to hold out as long as possible unless a promised Ukrainian counterattack materialized.
"There were many soldiers, so there was a physical danger in the city," he said.
A referendum on the region becoming part of Russia has been announced by officials installed in Moscow, but no date has been set. pressure to obtain citizenship.
Zhdanov's family florist income dried up after the currency change, but he nevertheless continued to grow plants.
"It's hard to live without money and food," he said. "Who wants the Russian government when your life, your business, and your children's education are taken from you? They're all gone."
Left Kherson with family. At that time, Zhdanov hid the Ukrainian flag in the bottom of his luggage, risking arrest. He kept the flag away from public protests against the presence of Russian troops.
She, a journalist Yevhenia Virlych, stayed for five months and continued to write about officials who allegedly cooperated with Russia. However, she worked in secret, feared for her safety, changed apartments frequently, and posted photos of Poland on social media to give the impression that she had already fled. We've tied a knot around Kherson and it's getting tighter and tighter," said Willrich, adding that locals were under pressure to accept Russian passports. “Russia, which came under the banner of liberation, began to torture and hold us captive. Can anyone live like that?” Virlych last month finally fled to Kyiv with her husband.
Those wishing to leave Kherson must pass through a series of Russian military checkpoints. Soldiers search belongings, ID cards and mobile phones, and those suspected of helping the resistance face interrogation in so-called filtration camps.
As Kherson falls into poverty, it becomes harder to leave. Her bus ticket to Zaporizhia, a city 300 kilometers (185 miles) northeast of her, is now worth $160. Before the war it was $10.
Virlych said he admired the courage of those who stayed behind, as well as those who risked their lives to join anti-Russian protests in the early stages of the occupation.
}She recalled a large demonstration on March 5, attended by more than 7,000 people.
"I have never seen people act like that in my life," she said.
By April, the protests had stopped as occupation forces launched a deadly counterattack, she added Virlych, adding, "The Russians were firing [into the crowd] and People were injured," he said.
Moscow wants to maintain its hold on Kherson, which is strategically located near the North Crimean Canal, which supplies water to the Russian-occupied peninsula, Ukraine annexed her eight years ago. It later closed the canal, but reopened it after Russia took control of the area.
Like Zhdanov, Virlych remains hopeful of a Ukrainian counterattack to seize the region from Russia.
"I only believe in God and the Ukrainian army," she said. "I don't believe in anything anymore."
