Undercover In Ukraine's Occupied Kherson: 'You Don't Know What Will Happen Tomorrow'

A Russian servicemen outside one of the occupied villages near Kherson. 

"We are from Donetsk. How do you feel about May 9?" one soldier asked RFE/RL at a checkpoint, referring to the date on which Russia commemorates Victory Day over Nazi Germany. After checking documents, those manning checkpoints often ask for cigarettes.​

A Russian checkpoint in the occupied Kherson region in April 2022.

The road to Kherson is nearly empty. On the way you can find broken equipment, plundered gas stations, and shell craters. Fields and forests -- what the Kherson region has always been famous for -- are now "sown" with the equipment of the Russian occupiers.

“People were sowing and planning the harvest. And now what? ” one local driver told RFE/RL.

A Russian armored personnel carrier near one of the villages in the occupied Kherson region.

"A lot of vehicles are coming in from Crimea. Every night, we hear them move," one local resident said. "When our troops start a counterattack, it will be hot."

Occupying troops raise a Soviet victory banner, featuring the hammer and sickle, at Park Slavy (Park of Glory) in central Kherson. It's a copy of the flag raised over Berlin's Reichstag and is now an official symbol of the U.S.S.R.'s victory over Nazi Germany.

A billboard in Kherson says: “Kherson is Ukraine. Ukraine is Europe."

"The occupiers are deeply disappointed because there is no support for them," says one local farmer. "They are not wanted here. The Kherson region is a deeply pro-Ukrainian territory. They were lucky with Crimea because there really was a large pro-Russian population there. Here, no."

Russian vehicles move through the streets of occupied Kherson.

"The sense of protection is completely absent," says one city resident. "When a person comes to you with a machine gun, you clearly understand that he can do anything with you."

An impromptu memorial for children who have died during the war in front of the Palace of Culture in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.

"This building is opposite the Russian commandant's office," said one man as he walked by. "They bring toys here so that they can see and remember." 

A pro-Russia TV channel broadcasting the "liberation operation" in occupied Kherson.

"As soon as they entered the city, they drowned out the Ukrainian channels and launched their own. After a while, cable TV and radio stations were turned off. Not a single Ukrainian newspaper is published in Kherson," said a local media expert, who also warned of the dangers of reporting in the occupied territories.

"You know, we used to think that a camera and a microphone were a means of protection," he said. "But now, it is a 'red rag' to the occupiers. Going out and filming something is putting yourself in danger.”

Russian troops patrol near the Kherson Regional State Administration.

"All thinking Kherson residents are for Ukraine, of course," one local resident told RFE/RL. "But now there is some uncertainty -- and this gives rise to fear. You don't know what will happen tomorrow."

Volunteers from occupied Kherson prepare and distribute Easter cakes for residents of nearby settlements who are under heavy shelling.

According to one local volunteer, the occupiers have  "artificially created a humanitarian catastrophe in Kherson in order to import goods from Crimea. They do not allow any humanitarian convoys from Ukraine to pass through. All of this is delivered by volunteers at their own risk."

Easter cakes

Medicines are prepared for delivery in occupied Kherson.

"It is very difficult to supply medicines to the Kherson region now," says Iryna, a local volunteer. ​"The invaders do not give us 'green corridors.' Drivers who carry medical supplies often disappear. They take away their phones, cars, and the medicines themselves."

A rescue worker in occupied Nova Kakhovka walks toward the State Emergency building where a Russian flag now flies.

While some rescue workers left when the occupation began, others remained to assist their fellow citizens. "As for the fact that the government abandoned Kherson, this is just an insult," said a local volunteer. "There is no feeling yet that we will be liberated."

People attend a church service in occupied Kherson.

"We pray. We do our jobs. Of course, we want Ukraine to be here," said a local clergymen. "I also have a family. They also cry. But I try to avoid politics."

A Russian checkpoint in occupied Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.

According to Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhayev, more than 40 percent of residents have left the city, including more than 3,000 children. In a Facebook post on April 16, Ukraine's ombudswoman for human rights, Lyudmyla Denisova, said that Russia intends to hold a "referendum" to create a "People's Republic of Kherson."

According to the Denisova, Russian troops intend to turn off all communications in Kherson and to stop anyone entering or exiting the city between May 1 and May 10. The vote they reportedly plan to stage mirrors what occurred in the occupied Luhansk and Donetsk regions in 2014.

An inscription on the asphalt: "Kherson is Ukraine."