In Katchkarivka, a village on the west bank of the Dnieper, Lioudmila and Oleksandre Chevtchouk say that Russian troops broke into the homes of the inhabitants, looking for their cell phones in particular. According to them, the Russians feared that the locals would communicate their position to the Ukrainian forces.
“They were going from house to house with their weapons. They threw all the phones in a bucket and left, ”says Liudmila, 56. “We were burying our phones. Everyone was doing it. Those who didn’t do it in time lost them, ”she says.
Irina Mykhailena, a mother of two, says soldiers stopped her and her daughter in the middle of a road in the city of Berdyansk. “They went through her purse, looking for her phone. On the same day, my friend’s 12-year-old daughter was also walking down the street alone and was stopped. They also searched her purse, “says this 43-year-old real estate agent.” We had to delete all our messages. God save us if we say something against Russia. Nobody felt safe, “she continues.
