The Russian military has stepped up searches of civilians in southern Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, arresting local residents to quell the opposition, according to the Ukrainian military.
In the city of Kherson, Russian soldiers often wear civilian clothes and live in civilian houses as they “strengthen the internal conditions of street fighting,” according to the military. Ukraine and a resident of the city CNN has information.
“During the attack of the army of Ukraine, the population improved the filtering process,” the National Resistance Center, a creation of the army of Ukraine, said on Monday. “Attacks on civilians have increased in the temporarily occupied Kherson region. Active residents are looking for underground movement. “
The National Resistance Center said it was aware of several arrests in recent days. He called on civilians to leave the occupied territories “if possible” as the Ukrainian army pressed its offensive.
A few checkpoints, more offensive: A resident of the captured city of Kherson told CNN through a third party on Sunday that Russian forces in the city are more aggressive than civilians.
“On the western side, near Snihurivka, there are cases of people breaking into people’s houses when people move to the city,” said a resident. “Many soldiers came to the village, they live in empty houses. But there are cases when they evict people from their houses.”
CNN is not identifying the Kherson resident for their safety. The city of Kherson itself has become “quiet,” it said.
“From time to time, you can hear the sound of automatic gunfire at night,” said a resident. “There is a curfew in the city, and no one goes out at night. The owners of the city have created a kind of security zone in the city, which deals with security problems. “
He said that the checkpoint has been removed from the city itself.
“There is only a checkpoint at the entrance to the city. At the checkpoint, they check documents and check the contents of the car. If it is a public transport, then the soldier gets into a small car. It can be different, everything depends on the situation of the residents. They can start checking phones and force men to undress to look at tattoos.”
Emerging Young Soldiers: A resident said that most of the soldiers are under 30 years old, but they have started to see a lot of young men, who are 18 to 20 years old.
Russian authorities continued on Monday to try to restore electricity after a blackout on Sunday.
“I think electricity and communications will be restored in the near future,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy commander of the Kherson region, said Monday morning in a video on Telegram. “There is no food crisis in the country, there is food. It is true that some pharmacies have been closed, but it is not possible to get public benefits. We are also working on this. “
Stremousov said that the authorities continued to provide “exit” to the east of the Dnipro River, including now for civilians sleeping or those with limited mobility.
Such deportations have raised concerns that Ukrainian citizens will be forced to go to Russian territory against their will. Reports emerged at the beginning of the war that tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians were being forcibly transported to so-called “filtering centers” before being transported to Russia. Moscow denounced the claim as false, alleging that Ukraine had blocked its efforts to “deport” people from Russia.
A resident of the city of Kherson who told CNN viewed the idea of getting on the “escape bus” to Crimea as a “one-way ticket.”
