Kherson was the first major city to fall Russian force in the days that followed of President Vladimir Putin comprehensive operations in Ukraine started. Few people had time to flee before the city fell Russianincluding members of the Kherson government, who remained trapped under occupation with targets on their backs.
Now, Kherson is once again a frontline town where attacks occur most days. With no new aid from the US and low arms supplies, authorities remain concerned that fighting could happen again in their streets and the pain of war Russian Career is everywhere in their minds.
A man who asked to be identified only as “Ihor” told The Daily Beast that many people in Kherson resisted Russian soldiers with protests, worked in underground networks or sent information to the Ukrainian military when The city was occupied two years ago. Ihor and his wife have been participating in anti-occupation protests for months and consuming Ukrainian news about their hidden cell phones.
In the summer of 2022, Ihor said his brother-in-law asked him to pass on any information he found about Russian collaborators, which he agreed to do. On August 7, 2022, Russian soldiers drove a large truck used to round up prisoners to Ihor's driveway. At that moment, he knew that he would be taken prisoner by Russia. Although he was never formally charged, Ihor was arrested and shuttled around a series of prisons.
He said the cells were “full of mold” and so small that he and eight other prisoners felt they couldn't breathe. “There is no air, no water, no food, no medical aid,” he said. Ihor said he had a weak heart and the prison conditions only made things worse. “We just used one bottle as a toilet with the other people in the same cell as us,” he said.
For the first 23 days, Ihor was in prison; he said he didn't eat, and every night, the people in his cell took turns sleeping. Ihor said that the Russians who controlled the prison also sexually assaulted the men by inserting two wires into their genitals and electrocuting them. “They call this 'Biden's Call,'” he told The Daily Beast.
Another former prisoner of war, Andrii Andriuschenko, told The Daily Beast that he was also subjected to “Biden's Call,” which he described as the next torture step after a method called “Biden's Call.” Zelensky call,” in which Russian soldiers wrap a cable from a telephone field around a person's ear or genitals and make a phone call, which sends a burst of electricity to the target area of body. “'Call Biden' is the second state, when a cable is inserted into the anus and a person is electrocuted in this way,” Andriuschenko said.
Leading from underground
Trapped along with the citizens of the Kherson region were a number of politicians, leaders and mayors of towns that suddenly fell under Russian control. Yurii Sobolevsky, First Vice Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council, said officials tried to work until the last minute as they were pressured to cooperate with Russian soldiers or be considered enemies of the state Russia. Then many of them fled. What remained were a number of local officials, many of whom were arrested and two years later, some remain prisoners of the Kremlin. A small group of government figures stayed behind and shifted their work to focus on humanitarian aid.
“I cannot abandon all the people in this area. My phone was flooded with calls,” said Sobolevsky, who remained in Kherson during the first three months of the occupation.
Together with other local authorities, Sobolevsky provided humanitarian aid throughout Kherson and neighboring Mykolaiv, are also occupied. According to multiple sources who spoke to The Daily Beast, at that time, the people of Kherson were resisting the executive forces by organizing protests and going underground to help the Ukrainian army.
Sobolevsky remained in Kherson until he was considered a state criminal by the Russians and forced to flee – he was smuggled out of his home city. “I was scared. People who say they weren't scared or things like that are crazy or lying,” he told The Daily Beast. “When I went to bed, I still had my clothes on because I knew I could get sick.” arrest at any time. You realize that there is a risk of being killed, but you have to do your duty.”
During the first few days of the war, Sobolevsky and other civilians in Kherson began to gather in large numbers to protest the occupation. They told Russian soldiers to “Go Home,” graffitied “Slava Ukraine” and “Glory to Ukraine on buildings and waved yellow and blue flags. Sobolevsky turned to a local tailor who had worked for Kherson's local government, Oleg Akimchenkov, to create yellow and blue ribbons that could be distributed to rally attendees.
Oleg Akimchenkov in detention.
Courtesy of Oleg Akimchenkov
Akimchenkov created a defensive network of civilians that tried to reduce looting and petty crime among local residents struggling under the pressures of war. Russian soldiers knew Akimchenkov through defense networks and his work as a Red Cross volunteer. For months, Akimchenkov and two other men traveled in a bulletproof truck across both occupied and free Ukraine, passing an average of 30 Russian checkpoints to deliver aid. However, what the Russian soldier did not know was that he was working with Ukraine, passing information on the military positions of the occupiers and smuggling people out of Kherson.
“We brought in journalists, volunteers, former soldiers, people who did not have time to leave, and their soldiers' families because the repressions began; they were arrested. We did [helping] everyone we can,” Akimchenkov told The Daily Beast.
During a routine trip on August 5, Akimchenkov said he and one of the volunteers who always accompanied him were arrested by Russian soldiers and thrown into prison for unknown reasons. Although they did not charge him with any crime, he was shuttled around multiple prisons in the occupied territories for months. Several times during the initial interrogation, Akimchenkov added that he and his fellow volunteer were beaten while Russian soldiers shouted at them “What did you do in Kherson?”
After several hours of the Russians screaming at the two men, they were thrown into a cell with nine other men, some of whom were aid workers, local government employees, former soldiers and civilians. often. For two months, Akimchenkov was transferred to various prisons in the occupied territories, and despite constant torture, he said that he refused to give any information about his work. yourself or about Ukrainians who are also helping their country's army.
Akimchenkov and Ihor remained in Russian prisons until October 2022. After their release, both men lost significant weight and their health deteriorated. One month, after they were released—on November 11—The city of Kherson was liberated.
Once it was safe to return, Sobolevsky returned to work. Although the city has been liberated for nearly 18 months, several towns and villages in the region are still occupied, and currently, southern front line just over three miles from the city limits. Sobolevsky said that although Kherson's government has no plans to let the city be occupied again, “For the past year and a half, we have remained convinced that our army is the best and that they will not let Russia occupied here too. There is nothing worse than being occupied,” he said.
A fire burns after a Russian attack at the Kherson ship yard on November 24, 2022 in Kherson, Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have taken control of Kherson in recent weeks as well as surrounding areas after Russia withdrew its forces to the other side of the Dnipro River. Kherson was the only regional capital captured by Russia after its invasion on 24 February.
Chris McGrath/Getty Images
Wild accusations
Kherson's government has tried to return to pre-war normalcy, but is missing one of its most influential people – mayor Ihor Kolykhayev, who has been a Russian prisoner since May 2022. His son , Svitatoslav, told The Daily Beast that he did not receive any decisions. information or evidence about life since September 2023. Sviatoslav Kolykhayev had to piece together what happened to his father from the men in the same prison as him. He had heard about the Russians psychologically torturing his father.
“He was locked in a cell for more than 120 days without any human activity. Not a single point is connected to the outside world,” Sviatoslav said.
There have been accusations by some Ukrainians that Ihor Kolykhayev is a Russian collaborator, a charge his son strongly denies. Before his arrest, Kolykhayev worked to distribute humanitarian aid to the people of Kherson. Sviatoslav and his mother were evacuated from Kherson during the occupation. He said his father “Could have saved himself from it [imprisonment]by running away with his family. “But he is a man of his word. He promised his people that he would stay in Kherson despite threats to his life. Sviatoslav believed that the Russians may have tried to recruit his father, and due to his refusal to cooperate, Kolykhayev was arrested, but he had no proof.
Sviatoslav said that in September 2023, he was informed that his father was on the official prisoner exchange list drawn up by Russian officials. Although he emphasized that he had tried to contact the Ukrainian government several times to facilitate some agreement for his father's return, his requests were ignored.
“Why [in] the country where my father is living, why them [government] Won't you protect him? he said, adding that he is constantly trying to move the prisoner exchange forward. “They showed no interest in contacting me or my family. They do not show concern about this situation,” he added.
The people of Kherson know that if the Russians return to occupy this land, these stories of cruelty, abuse and torture will be repeated again and again. For Ihor Kolykhayev, it was probably too late, no one knew if he was in a Russian prison, being tortured daily or dead.
Sviatoslav said he felt that some human rights defenders in Ukraine were not given enough attention for their work. He believes that in Ukraine, people do not recognize his father's sacrifices, adding that he does not know what the next stage of his father's prisoner exchange will be.
“I don't see a real way to solve it. But I will take every opportunity to save his life now,” he added.
