This announcement was a surprise. Eight months after Russian troops occupied Kherson, a Russian general appeared on state television, standing in front of a map and declaring that his troops were withdrawing from the city of Kherson.
as an investigative correspondent tom burgis To tell michael safi Just like that, the tens of thousands of Russian soldiers occupying the city disappeared, and with them the governor of the occupied territory, Volodymyr Sardo.
But they didn’t get very far. The occupation continued, although the city of Kherson began to operate more freely on the other side of the Dnipro River, under regular mortar fire from Russian forces. That means Stalinist-style repression, torture chambers, and a culture of blackmail and intimidation. It continues today and can be very lucrative for those who know which levers to pull.
Photo: Valerie Chariflin/AP
