Two years ago this week, Europe and the world changed. After months of military buildup on Ukraine’s borders, President Vladimir Putin appeared on television to announce that Russian troops would invade.
As an investigative correspondent for the Guardian tom burgis To tell michael safi In the first chaotic hours and days, Moscow’s forces took control of Ukrainian towns and cities. In these places, mayors suddenly lost their powers, and police no longer knew whose laws they were enforcing, or even what funds to spend. One of those places was the Kherson region.
It will affect more than 1 million Ukrainians living there. And for one of them, Vladimir Sardo, exiled from state politics and suspected by police of involvement in contract killings, it would change everything.
Photo: Grigory Sysoev/AP
