From Reuters:
“Among Kherson's liberated:
U.S. family who lay low during Russian occupation”
For eight months, the American
missionaries did their best to steer clear of the Russian soldiers and police
patrolling the Ukrainian city of Kherson, remaining in the outlying district
where they live, and hiding when they thought they would be discovered. "We
were on the edge of the city. There weren't many Russians there," William
Hunsucker, 46, of Charlotte, North Carolina, recounted on Sunday as he, his
wife and two children watched ecstatic Ukrainians in Kherson's main square
celebrating Moscow's retreat across the Dnipro River.
"They didn't patrol
much." The worst part of the occupation for the family, recalled his
wife, Phyllis, 46, were the clashes that raged as the Russians drove out
Ukrainian forces and overran the only provincial capital that they seized in
the full-scale invasion launched in February. "The scariest was the
first few days when they were actively fighting," she said. "We had a
root cellar and we had electricity. So, we hung out there for a couple of
days." The Hunsuckers are Christian missionaries who moved to
Kherson in 2013 to work with a Ukrainian church-based organization helping
local orphanages. They had lived in Russia for seven years and speak
fluent Russian. But in 2008 they were forced to move back to the United States
after the Russian government ordered Phyllis to leave after accusing her of
being a foreign agent, the family said. The Hunsuckers considered
joining evacuations of residents from Kherson after the occupation. But they
decided against it because they would have had to pass through Russian
checkpoints where they could be identified and their expulsion from Russia
possibly discovered, they said. "We couldn't risk being
evacuated," said William, adding that he believed the FSB, the domestic
Russian security service that sent officers into the regions of Ukraine which
Moscow overran, still has the family in its files.
The couple said they knew of two
other Americans who were living in the city when Russian forces took control,
one of whom was discovered and held captive by the Russians for 40 days. While
the family did its best to avoid detection, Russian military police one day
stopped their son who was rolling two bicycles down a street because they
thought he had stolen one of them, said William. "They asked, 'What are
you doing? Where are you going?'" he recounted, adding that the Russians
let his son go after he gave them the family's address, an act that could have
led to the Russians to their front door. "As soon as he got to an internet
signal, he called us and we met at a church. A friend found an empty house,
where we lived for a month," William said. "We were super-paranoid.
That was our closest call." "Russian soldiers would stand behind me
in stores. You'd just take your stuff, lower your head and leave ... That
happened a couple of times," he added. "Keeping my head down worked.
And lots of prayers, I suppose." His 15-year-old daughter, Asya, said she
was happy the occupation was over. "I hope I can see my friends because
all of my friends were evacuated." William said the family intend to
remain in Kherson. "It's our home."
^ It’s not just Ukrainians that
are suffering because of Russia’s War in Ukraine. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.