In Kherson, the russian occupiers continue to kidnap those who don’t agree with occupation. The city got something very similar to Donetsk jail Izolyatsiia (Isolation) for torturing detained Ukrainians, informed Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian ombudswoman for human rights.
She underlined that Kherson city and the majority of oblast have been occupied by russian troops for over a month.
The region is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. 106 inhabited areas do not have electricity.
“The volumes of food and medicines are getting less, while the terrorists are taking away from the population everything. The region has no crucial medical drugs for cancer sufferers and diabetic patients at all. Recently the occupiers have seized the humanitarian hub in Kherson. It was organized to help dwellers and medical establishments. Russians took away medicines, baby food and diapers,” Denisova said.
There is still kidnapping of pro-Ukrainian activists. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the russian terrorists are holding 137 people hostage, including 4 journalists.
The locals say there is an analogue of Donetsk jail Izolyatsiia for torturing Ukrainians who don’t support occupiers.
Moreover, the occupiers disabled most of the Ukrainian information channels and keep disinforming the society via russian mass media and social networks.
“These activities on the temporarily occupied territories are the war crimes, defined with the Statute of the International Tribunal and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as well as breaching rules of Geneva Convention about civilians’ protection during the war,” emphasized the ombudswoman.
Denisova appealed to the UNO Commission that is investigating human rights violations, committed during russia’s military attack on Ukraine, and the OSCE Moscow Mechanism mission of experts to take into consideration these facts of war crimes and human rights violations by the rf in Ukraine.
Russian army occupied Kherson on the first day of the war. Nevertheless, the protests take place in the city factually every day. Locals emphasize that Kherson is a Ukrainian city. The occupiers bombard protestors with flash-crash grenades and apply tear-exciting gas against them but people continue their peaceful protests.
On 6 March 2022 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded the Hero City title to Kherson as well as to Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol, Hostomel and Volnovakha.
As of 9 April 2022, there is no agreed humanitarian corridor for evacuation from Kherson. People who are trying to leave do that at their own risk.