According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian army shot at demonstrators in the city of Cherson, which it occupies. “In Kherson, the occupiers shot at people who had gone out peacefully, unarmed, to protest. For freedom – for our freedom,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video published on Tuesday night.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: “This is the ugly face of Russia, a shame for humanity.” He called the Russian soldiers “war criminals”.
Kuleba released a video to accompany his tweet, showing an elderly man wearing a bracelet in the colors of the Ukrainian national flag with gunshot wounds. Other people rush to the man’s aid. Blood can be seen on the ground while gunfire can be heard continuously in the background.
Additional video footage circulated by local media showed protesters wearing the colors of Ukraine, yellow and blue, marching to the center of Kherson’s Freedom Square and shouting “Glory to Ukraine!” and “Go home” towards the Russian one Soldiers chanted. At that moment, soldiers opened fire. Dozens of demonstrators then fled. However, it could not be seen whether the soldiers were aiming directly at people and whether there were casualties.
A representative of the Kherson regional government, Yuriy Sobolevsky, reported on his Facebook page that Russian forces dispersed the crowd with “shots in the air” and the use of “gas, flares and stun grenades”. There were several “victims”.
He also referred to similar recordings as the video shared by Kuleba of the injured elderly demonstrator. “The pensioner was seriously injured in the leg, he lost a lot of blood,” said Sobolevsky. The man was then taken to the hospital. “The demonstrators have not broken up,” he reported. “And tomorrow they will gather again.”
In view of the violence against the civilian population in Kherson, Foreign Minister Kuleba called for further sanctions against Russia. “We must stop Russia! Sanction them, isolate them, hold war criminals accountable,” he wrote to the West.
Cherson, located near the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia, was the first major city in Ukraine to be taken by the Russian army after a three-day siege in early March. Since the city was taken, there have been regular protests against the Russian occupying forces in Cherson. Ukrainian media have repeatedly accused the Russian army of shooting at demonstrators.
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© Agence France-Presse
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