Please tell us about the events of almost a year and a half ago – on February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and already on February 28 announced that it had captured Enerhodar and taken control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. You denied it then. The Ukrainian army also acknowledged the loss of the nuclear plant only several days later. Please tell me what happened between February 28 and March 4?
During these days, three times a column of tanks approached the city and three times the inhabitants of the city went out in peaceful protests, the last time there were more than ten thousand of them. People welcomed the tanks with flags in their hands. The Russian armored vehicles turned around and drove back. There were no armed clashes yet. But on March 3, they opened fire on the checkpoint and a battle began that lasted for about two hours. After that, the fighting continued throughout the night right next to the NPP. At five o’clock in the morning on March 4, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and also all of Enerhodar were occupied.
How did you leave Enerhodar?
I left two months later when they had started actively pursuing me. By order of the head of the regional military administration, I moved to Zaporizhzhia.
During the first three weeks, the occupiers tried to achieve cooperation with the local legitimate Ukrainian elected municipalities. When they realized that they would not succeed, they appointed their own civil-military administrations, a kind of council with their Gauleiters. During all this time, since the beginning of the occupation, Enerhodar has already had five or six mayors.
One was blown up, the other was thrown out, the third was declared wanted. Now one is from Russia. Some of them were locals, some were immigrants.
2023-07-23 21:04:00
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