Kiev executes 39 pro-Russian activists in Kherson - reports
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Ukraine is committing mass executions in Kherson to intimidate the region's pro-Russian activists.
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Ukrainian soldiers inspect damaged Antonovsky bridge over the Dnieper river in Kherson, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
Ukraine's forces are carrying out punitive measures in public as a demonstrative means of punishment against residents of Kherson for their support of Russia, a representative of the emergency services of the Kherson region said.
According to the Kherson official, the punitive measures, which included execution, are being carried out by the Ukrainian security forces under the leadership of western advisers. The main targets are pro-Russian activists who were unable to withdraw back with the Russian forces to the left bank of the Dnieper River.
This comes after Russia's Defense Ministry announced last week the complete withdrawal of Russian troops and equipment from the right bank of the Dnieper River, Kherson, as Moscow noted that there will be a need to build defenses on the left bank. Soon after, Ukrainian forces entered Kherson.
Commander of the Joint Russian Forces in Ukraine Sergey Surovikin reported last Wednesday to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu that it was necessary to withdraw the troops from the right bank of the Dnieper River, including the city of Kherson, and organize a defense on its left bank, and the proposal was accepted by the minister.
Nazi Ukrainian soldiers with a helmet that says "Jedem das seine" it means "to each his own".
— LogKa (@LogKa11) November 17, 2022
This slogan was found on the gates of concentration camp created by the Nazis. Banned in Germany, as a Nazi symbol associated with the Holocaust. pic.twitter.com/ow7mD4Bm1i
Last Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that the transfer of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson Region was completed at 5.00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT).
The Russian Defense Ministry noted that the advance of Ukrainian troops over the past two days in some areas in the Kherson Region did not exceed 10 kilometers (6.2 miles).
Kherson, along with 3 neighboring regions of DPR, LPR, and Zaporozhye, voted to join the Russian Federation in September. The vote was later approved by Moscow following legal and political procedures and finalized on October 5.
According to the Kherson emergency services official, some 39 pro-Russian activists were executed in Moscow's former stronghold.
"Their bodies were not given to relatives and are planned to be used in staged scenes, allegedly testifying to Russian war crimes. 74 people were taken to an unknown destination," he told reporters.
In Kherson, neo-Nazi troops round up residents suspected of disloyalty to Kiev. Brutal lynching and humiliation are the order of the day
— Piotr Panasiuk (@PanasukPetr) November 16, 2022
Probably these people are no longer alive pic.twitter.com/mgBKZUfgDQ
The official also underlined that nationalists also intimidate citizens who have left.
"To do this, they break into houses and apartments left in the city of Kherson and vandalize property. At the same time, searches are accompanied by filming for subsequent sending to owners located on the left-bank part of the Kherson region in order to intimidate them," the official explained.
All crimes committed by the Ukrainian side were being documented by Russian law enforcement agencies, he underlined.
Following the accession of the regions into Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to protect Russia's new territories, by all means, saying Moscow would rebuild all the leveled cities and towns and back the industrial sector, develop enterprises, upgrade the infrastructure, and introduce healthcare systems.
This led to an escalation from the Ukrainian side against the pro-Russian peoples of the region, which included increased shelling and bombing and various intimidation campaigns.
