From the BBC:
“Ukraine war: Resistance to
Russian rouble in Kherson”
(Large Russian Trucks with white
Z painted on them drive down a street in Kherson)
The Russian rouble will be used
in Kherson from Sunday, according to Russia-backed forces that have taken
control of the southern Ukrainian city. However, Kherson's Ukrainian mayor,
Ihor Kolykhaiev, who has now been overthrown by Russian authorities, has said
that he doesn't believe this will be possible while the only working banking
system in the region is Ukrainian, not Russian. Despite being occupied for 60
days, many residents are trying to find small ways to defy the Russian forces -
like exchanging any roubles they receive back into Ukraine's currency, the
hryvnia. But there are very few ways to safely snub the Russian army when it
occupies your streets. Z signs - a Russian pro-war symbol - have appeared
around the city. Russian flags hang above Kherson's government buildings.
Ukrainian TV has been mostly cut off, changed to Russian news. Russian soldiers
drive armoured vehicles through the city centre, between a network of check
points.
Now, changing the region's
currency is yet another bid to erase Ukrainian identity from the city. "I
think most people will leave here if the rouble is introduced," Olga, who
didn't want to use her real name, told me from inside Kherson. "At the
moment there are still currency exchanges operating in the city. If I am paid
in roubles, I think I will just go and exchange it for hryvnia, I think others
will too. It's just a small act of protest." Olga is not the only one with
this plan. Ukrainian news reports have said that some pensions have been handed
out in roubles around Kherson, but that people have already exchanged it back
into Ukrainian hryvnia. Life in Kherson has become increasingly difficult. Many
now feel nervous about even speaking to a journalist. When we reach Olga and
ask how she is feeling, she sighs. "I'm alive and I have food," she
says.
(The Ukrainian mayor of Kherson,
Ihor Kolykhaiev, has now been replaced with a Russian administration)
Around 40% of the population have
fled in the two months since this key, strategic city was taken by Russia,
according to the mayor. Many residents tell us about their struggle to pay for
what few goods there are, as supermarket shelves lie empty. They say that
shops, restaurants and businesses have closed and parts of the economy have
ground to a halt, cut off from much of the world. Earlier this week, Russian
forces appointed a new administration in Kherson because Mr Kolykhaiev was
"not cooperating" with the occupied forces, according to Russian
state news agency Ria.
Speaking on video call from
somewhere in the region, with piles of binders and a toy camouflage jeep
sitting on shelves behind him, Mr Kolykhaiev says he has not stopped working.
He is sceptical of whether Russia can successfully introduce the rouble. "I
have no confirmation that it's been introduced," he says. "When can
it appear? When the treasury and the banking system of Ukraine will stop
working? Anything can happen under occupation, I can't get into Russia's head
to find out what they are thinking. If they do try to introduce the rouble zone
here, we would be plunged back into 1992 when Ukraine gained its independence."
Ukrainian authorities had
suggested that Russia could try to hold a referendum in the region on 1 May,
asking voters whether they want independence from Ukraine. Any attempt to do
this would be seen as a way to legitimise Russia's intervention, suggesting
that residents no longer want to be part of Ukraine and painting Russia as
liberators. Russia held a referendum in Crimea after Moscow annexed it in 2014,
and also in the Russian-backed separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia
has denied plans to hold a vote in Kherson, and for now residents in the city
say they've seen no sign of it. Rumours swirl on social media channels about
what could happen. Some Ukrainians are worried that Russia will simply fake the
result and use records of their identity documents - which they fear the
Russians could gain access to in the administrative buildings they now occupy -
to back it up. "I'm not sure they even need the population here to know
that there is a referendum," says Olga. "I guess they can do it
without us. Maybe I already voted."
Routes to safety shut off
(Many supermarket shelves in
Kherson are empty)
Several people inside Kherson
told us that the routes out to safer parts of Ukraine have now been shut
altogether. The only road available is through Crimea which means travelling
into Russian territory, something several Ukrainians told us they would not be
prepared to do. Maxim felt this was his only route to safety. He didn't want
his name to be used as his family are still inside the city. At the border he
was subject to a long interrogation as a security guard inspected his body for
tattoos. "It was like a film," he said. "You sit on a suitcase
under the scorching sun to be interrogated. I would never have imagined I would
have to go through this. I was really horrified, because it's scary - people
with machine guns are walking past you." His favourite artist almost got
him into difficulties. "They were asking me the same questions on
repeat," he says. "I have a David Bowie lightning tattoo and they
asked me 'Is that Azov?'" The Azov battalion are a controversial regiment
that was originally a far-right group later incorporated into Ukraine's
National Guard. Maxim says that many of the cars in the queue had Kherson
number plates. He has since safely travelled through Georgia and on to Europe. "Reaching
Georgia was like being released from jail," he says. "You feel like
you've got your human rights back."
For those still in Kherson there
are deep fears about the future. "I am afraid of a humanitarian
catastrophe," says Mr Kolykhaiev. "I am worried for the people who
are still in the city today. They are all hostages. "It's like we started
with 100 litres of petrol in the car tank and we are driving until the gas runs
out. I want to calculate how long we can keep driving. How long can we carry
the city?"
^ Kherson has survived Nazis in
the past – when the Germans occupied their territory and forced the Reichsmark and
other German things onto the people there. Putin is just copying what the
German Nazis did and allowing the Russian Nazis to impose the Ruble and other
Russian things onto the people there. The people of Kherson, Ukraine not only
survived the German Nazi Occupation, but also kept up Partisan attacks against
the Occupiers and the people of Kherson continue to do the same with the
Russian Nazi Occupiers. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.