There are countless examples from the first twelve days of the war of the imminent danger Ukrainians are in these days.

Photo and video recordings show dying children in the arms of their desperate parents, families killed while fleeing, houses, schools and clinics that have been bombed, destroyed cars.

They are evidence of deliberate attacks on civilians by Russian troops.

Sofia Dreisbach

Editor in Politics.

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And yet the Ukrainian population has repeatedly opposed the invaders peacefully these days.

Here, too, the Russian occupiers seem to have underestimated the Ukrainians.

Apparently everywhere they are met with dislike and anger, even where the majority of Russian-speaking Ukrainians live.

In the middle of the war, people take to the streets against the invaders.

A man in red sweatpants and slippers has become a symbol.

A shaky mobile phone video shows him on Saturday walking at the head of a protest march against the occupying forces in Melitopol.

In front of him five Russian soldiers in full battle gear firing warning shots.

People yell, "Piss off!

Go home!” The soldiers retreat step by step.

"We have to go outside!"

Russian units had taken the city with 150,000 inhabitants in south-eastern Ukraine about a week ago.

Even before the symbolic appearance of the man in the red pants, videos documented the civil disobedience of the residents against the occupiers: how they blocked military columns on the street - a man lay across the road - or with the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine through pull the streets.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy singled out Melitopol in a speech over the weekend when it came to resistance to Russian troops: "We have to go outside!" Zelenskyy said in the video message, as in Cherson, Berdyansk or Melitopol, "and this Drive evil out of our cities".

"Every meter of our Ukrainian soil that we have regained through protests and the humiliation of our occupiers is a step forward towards victory." words feed many Ukrainians.

Again and again he calls on his people to keep fighting, time and again he demonstratively shows himself to be approachable, even if he himself is considered a probable target of the Russian secret service.

Along with the civilian resistance, the Ukrainians are also making a mockery of the Russian narrative justifying the attack: the “special military operation” to rid the Ukrainian population of “Nazis”.

In Cherson, the first fully occupied Ukrainian city, the occupiers had taken special precautions: installed Russian television stations, brought Crimean residents to show their gratitude for the "liberation" and organized a concert to run parallel to the distribution of relief supplies should take place.

But instead of gratitude, the Russian troops were met with anger and hatred.

Hundreds have been taking to the streets with Ukraine flags to demonstrate against the invasion since the weekend;

on Monday Russian soldiers fired warning shots into the air.

A video posted Saturday shows residents of Kherson refusing aid supplies.

Russian soldiers are standing in front of two trucks, a Ukrainian shouts: "Who needs anything from the occupying forces?

Who needs food from them?” The crowd across the street yells her no.

"Russian warship," shouts one man, and the crowd replies, "Fuck you!" That line has become a rallying cry of resistance after Ukrainian soldiers used those insults to greet the Russian invaders on Snake Island.

First it was said that the defenders had all been killed as a result;

later the Ukrainian fleet reported that they were captured.