“Come forward! Let’s see your hands, show your documents!” – On the banks of the Dnieper River near the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, police officers armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles took at gunpoint two men who had stepped off a boat.
The scene took place on the right bank, downstream, near the city liberated on November 11 by the soldiers of Kiev after eight months of occupation by the Russian units, who withdrew to the left bank of the river.
The case demonstrates the climate of suspicion that reigns in Kherson, where the authorities fear that there are people who have collaborated with the Russians or continue to do so and are trying to trace them.
The two men are evacuating from one of the islands to the east coast, a gray area where Ukrainian forces are absent and which is effectively under Moscow’s control, although Russian soldiers appear to be nowhere to be seen.
“Evacuation is not allowed except from the port (in Kherson). It is illegal here,” one of the policemen explained to AFP. At the port “there are officials who are responsible for“ stabilization measures ”and check whether or not someone has participated in such cooperation, he specified.
The inspection proved to be brief: two rockets fell on the islet 200 m from the coast and a cloud of black smoke rose from there. The Dnieper River is the new front line. The two men and the police escape running for cover. The interrogation will continue after the situation has calmed down.
Increased police presence
After the excitement of the liberation, Kherson continues to live under increasing police control, very strong and visible.
Checkpoints at the exits of the city, patrolling the streets – men in blue uniforms check identity documents, ask questions, search car trunks, look for “collaborators”.
“These people have been here for eight months. They work for the Russian regime and now we have information and documents about each of them. Our police services know everything about them and each one will be punished,” the governor of Russia told AFP. Kherson oblast, Yaroslav. Janushevich.
At a large intersection at the end of a bridge leading to the industrial port area, an elderly man approaches one of the policemen checking cars and passers-by. He asks them where he can fill the two pipes he is carrying with water.
“You say you live here, but you don’t know where to get water?” asks the suspicious policeman in turn. The elderly person is made to take a photocopy of an identity document out of his pocket to identify himself.
Access control is also carried out in the station, from where residents continue to leave the city by train every day.
Agence France-Presse has located a separate room at the station where five law enforcement officers sit at small desks and question everyone who leaves.
Release the “traitors”
Propaganda posters praising Russia no longer stand on several large boulevards; instead, posters glorifying the liberation of Kherson have been posted.
However, there are others who are encouraging residents to hand over those who have collaborated with Russian forces. “Submit traitor info here,” says one of the posters, which has a QR code to scan and a contact phone number.
“This helps us identify them and know if they’re in our territory,” says the district governor.
“Most of the information we receive comes from the local population after short conversations (…). We also analyze profiles on social networks and continue online monitoring”, Andrii Kovani, head of the Public Relations Department” at the Kherson Police Department.
After police interrogations, the investigation goes to the Ukrainian security services.
According to Deputy Internal Affairs Minister of Ukraine Yevhen Enin, more than 130 people have already been arrested for collaboration with the Russians in the Kherson region.
When asked in front of one of the posters, most residents supported the release. Forty-year-old Pavel (who did not want to reveal his real name) believes that “it is useful to look for traitors and collaborators. We must help our armed forces to capture those who worked for Russia”.
Since the city’s liberation, Russian attacks have targeted energy infrastructure, but also residential buildings. Many people died.
“Our houses are also being bombed right now. And I think the collaborators are helping (Russian troops) target our houses,” points out 35-year-old Irina.
Of the opposite opinion is Vyacheslav, who believes that “all the collaborators have fled to the other bank” of the Dnieper. “We are all (Ukrainian) patriots here,” says the 47-year-old man.
