REPORTAGE
In Kherson, residents torn between staying and evacuating to Russia
Civilians evacuated from the Russian-controlled city of Kherson walk from a ferry to board a bus bound for Crimea, in the town of Oleshky, October 23, 2022. REUTERS - ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO
Text by: Anissa El Jabri Follow
4 mins
The climate is extremely tense around the annexed regions of Zaporijjia and Kherson.
In Kherson, pro-Russian authorities have been asking civilians to evacuate to the left bank of the Dnieper since last week.
Advertising
Read more
From our special correspondent in Kherson
,
Each day, the tone is a little more muscular than the day before and each day, the clouds are piling up a little more.
The latest risk of escalation to date: Moscow's accusations concerning
the preparation of a dirty bomb by Ukraine
.
Just before, each side accused the other of wanting to blow up the dam upstream of Kherson on the Dnieper, a destruction which would notably have the consequence of no longer supplying the cooling lake of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, and to drown under the waters of Kherson and the surrounding villages.
► To read also: The Russian army announces an upcoming evacuation around Kherson
With a checkpoint on average every 15 kilometers, sometimes with mobile harrows, the net to check that no civilian enters the Kherson region during the evacuation period is particularly tight.
In the capital of the region, at the entrance to the Antonovsky bridge regularly targeted by shots, an anti-missile battery is very visible.
The civilian boats that commute on the river, on the other hand, are relatively spared from the bombardments.
The buildings and dwellings of Kherson too.
Not for long ?
In any case, this is what this native of the city fears, sitting on the wooden bench of a boat ready to start his 50-minute shuttle between two river ports.
“
Kherson is not an easy city for someone in a defensive position, but it cannot be returned for prestige reasons.
So they will fight for it, and surely very cruelly.
In addition, it is strategically very important to control this Dnieper delta
,” he explains.
Kherson,
new Stalingrad this winter
,
or may soon be drowned under water?
He is the only one on this boat to admit to considering it seriously.
A young couple in charge of parcels rejects the idea: “
I refuse to believe it, even if I know very well that it is a possibility not to be ruled out.
But we hope that all these threats will not materialize.
»
This, despite repeated calls from pro-Russian authorities to leave, despite repeated messages received on the phones, some of which sometimes arrive in the middle of the night.
“
It's the fourth I've received
,” joked a man at the port yesterday.
As for this resident, a smirk: "
We were told there was some kind of danger, but I don't remember, I deleted the text message
," she said.
A few mocking laughs burst out.
A few meters from the soldiers, many, visible, well armed and hooded.
They control
– martial law obliges, they say – meticulously the identities of the candidates for the crossing of the river.
Means for evacuations
Opposite, on the edge of the south bank of the Dnieper, on a lawn still green despite the fall, a large number of Russian personnel in uniform awaits those who have chosen to cross and evacuate.
All are headed by Dimitri Ershova.
“
From 8 a.m., the first motorboats arrive here from the right bank.
The bus arrives at the same time.
Everything is synchronized so that people have a minimum wait.
They get on the buses organized in columns.
That way, if an incident occurs, it minimizes the consequences
,” he explains.
Minibus, medical staff, help with luggage, coordination manager….
Russia has put the means to accommodate those who agree to evacuate.
Adam took his place with his mother, heading for the Djankoï crossing point for the Crimea.
His decision had been made a long time ago: “
I'm afraid that there will be fighting and that the front will move in one direction and then in the other.
I am sure that the next 6 months the situation will not be stable at all
,” he worries.
There are still many of them, however, who still want to stay in the city where they have everything: their homes, their memories, their habits.
Even if with the worsening of the security situation, the supply of food is scarce.
“
There is nothing left in the supermarkets, the shelves are empty.
You want sausage, meat, make you a real meal?
it's not even worth trying,
there's nothing, 0
”, explains a retiree.
Standing along the port like a dozen other inhabitants, without looking at the shuttle carrying the evacuees, he takes out his fishing rod and casts his line into the river.
Perhaps he will find fish there to eat.
The pro-Russian administration of the Kherson region specified that “
as of October 24, 22,367 inhabitants were taken to the left bank of the Dnipro
”.
She said she "
expects
" the departure of "
about 50,000 people
" from this area in total "
in the near future
".
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
Russia
Ukraine