Testimony

A Ukrainian resistance fighter from Kherson confides: “At the moment, you are afraid”

Audio 01:24

Scene of exchanges between this resident of Kherson and a soldier of the Ukrainian army, during a distribution of aid supplies in the center of the city taken back from the Russians, this Friday, November 18, 2022. AFP - BULENT KILIC

Text by: RFI Follow

2 mins

The city of Kherson was liberated just a week ago after more than eight months of Russian occupation.

If the Ukrainian army was able, after weeks of fighting, to regain control, it is also because inside, resistance fighters helped it.

RFI was able to collect the rare testimony of one of these resistants.

He speaks on condition of anonymity, because several of his companions were arrested and then taken away by the Russians in their retreat.

He himself was held for 75 days before being released.

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With our special correspondent in Kherson,

Nearly nine months ago, when the Russian army seized his city, with his companions, they did not hesitate for a second.

We got together in my basement, and we started collecting bottles, polystyrene, gasoline.

For months, with his friends, they will hunt down the collaborators, blow up the cars of these Ukrainians who are allied with the Russians.

He mainly collects the information that the inhabitants send him, the photos and the GPS coordinates of the battalions of the Russian army.

He sends them to the Ukrainian army.

We quickly realized that we wouldn't get anywhere if we didn't also bombard their arsenals.

He takes us to his hideout.

When the Russians arrested him, his apartment was searched.

Among those who watched us, some were sadistic and tortured for fun.

Our cries, they said, “It's music to our ears.

They bludgeoned me.

They tortured me with electric shocks.

In total, he believes that he and his companions allowed to kill...

We must have killed a hundred of them.

Looking back, I think we could have done even more.

It's just that in the moment, you're so scared.

If he was released, it was by chance, he says.

Especially because, fortunately he says, “

 ”.

#Kherson #Ukraine liberated.

Residents come together to connect to the internet and find humanitarian aid.

On this same square on which many had found the courage to demonstrate against the Russian occupation.

@RTSinfo pic.twitter.com/zzQorGUyF7

— Maurine Mercier (@MaurineMercier) November 17, 2022

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