‘They destroyed the target 20 minutes after I passed on the information’ |
from Kherson Vladislav Nedostup Although the eight-month occupation of his hometown is already in the past, that period of time changed his life. He’s still a bit of a chubby, mild-mannered sociology major. But he is also someone who has already killed other people – five Russian soldiers. He tells all this in a bar in Kherson after the retreat of the Russians.
“If they had told me a year ago that I would become a partisan and kill someone, I would have laughed at them. But now, come on.” – he says.
28-year-old Nedostupun, who sells old car parts Russia None that will attack Ukraine on February 24 military had no experience.
When the war started, he went to the local commissariat and enrolled in the territorial defense unit, like his father, who had served in the Soviet army. Nedostup, who did not fill out any documents, was given a Kalashnikov assault rifle and four “magazines” here. According to him, at that time the city was in a “very chaotic” state.
Soon Russia forces entered Kherson, a port city located in the north-west of the Crimean peninsula, near the mouth of the Dnieper River. Kherson was the only regional center that the Russians had been able to occupy since the beginning of the offensive, and now they have lost it as well.
The group served by Nedostup did not participate in the clashes with the invaders and was forced to hide. His commander and two other members of the squad were interrogated for five years imprisonment have been done. He himself was repeatedly threatened by phone.
According to Nedostup, what worried him the most was not threats of interrogation, but “the fact that Russians feel at home in Kherson.”
The invaders, who broke up the initial protests, soon began to hang Russian flags in the city. They are military– created a civil administration and released the ruble into circulation. In September, Moscow declared the city of Kherson and its surrounding regions as its territory.
When it became known that there would be no more battles in Kherson, Nedostup did not want to join some of his comrades in arms and go to fight in the neighboring Nikolayev region. Instead, he returned to his hometown with some other friends.
Nedostup, who says he wants to “be useful” and “keep fighting.” Russian troops gathering information about Ukraine started passing it on to his friends in the army. But from around the city, including Kyiv When the terrible news about the genocide in nearby Bucha and the fall of “Azovstal” in Mariupol began to arrive, he wanted to do more.
Russian missile attack in Odessa in April Valeria Hlodan Nedostup decides to take “bloody revenge” when he kills a woman with her three-month-old daughter and her mother inside their house. Hlodan was Nedostup’s classmate in childhood.
A week later, he stalked a Russian soldier leaving a bar in the neighborhood where he had lived all his life, slitting his throat and killing him.
“I felt nothing but fear and the absurdity of what was happening,” – says Nedostup. After fleeing the scene, he says he went to his apartment, took a long shower, and then watched The Office on his computer.
From the beginning of March to the beginning of November, many townspeople choose to cooperate with the invaders, or are forced to do so. Russian cars were repaired during the occupation at the car repair shop where Nedostup used to work. Ukraine Kherson free when his former boss fled to Spain. Some workers escaped with the Russians.
As the months passed, the danger to the lives of the residents who did not obey the Russian occupation government began to increase. Witnesses and Ukraine officials say that those who refused to cooperate with the invaders were interrogated and tortured in the pre-trial detention center established in the city. Although the exact number of tortured people is unknown, local residents say that dozens of people are taken to this detention center every day.
Nedostup knew that the Russians were looking for him, and his father’s house had also been searched. He says that he is hiding in different apartments in different parts of the city, hiding his contacts from his acquaintances in order not to endanger them.
“Under these conditions, I had a lot of time to be alone with myself, to think about my role in the world. I came to the conclusion that justice requires me to act.” – he says.
In early June, a friend of Nedostup noticed that several Russian soldiers often smoked and drank tea together in the yard where he lived. Instead of guarding the streets, they waited in the yard for their turn to finish.
According to Nedostup, thanks to the information provided by his friend, he shot and killed two of those soldiers with a weapon he bought from the territorial defense unit earlier this year. He and his friend wanted to take the soldiers’ weapons and documents. But everything happened so quickly that they had to run.
By then, Nedostup says, he had already built his own information network and began passing information directly to the Ukrainian intelligence service. But he says that the clandestine resistance movement is not involved in organized diversionary activities.
Nedostup says that he killed Russian soldiers “without any order” but by his own decision. In early March, Russian civilians in Ukraine military who allowed his staff to be killed law accepted. Nedostup considers its actions legal according to that law.
Civilians of Ukraine Article 5 of the Law states that civilians will not be held responsible for using weapons against persons who carry out armed aggression against Ukraine.
“Miller” law firm in Kiev crime legal expert Ilya Vorobyov Azadlig Radio due to Nedostup’s actions mentioned in the article crime he says he doesn’t see any reason to open the case. According to him, from the point of view of international law, Nedostup should be seen not as a civilian, but as a member of the military unit.
Nedostup says he killed two more Russian soldiers in early September, when the Ukrainian army was advancing on the city. He and two acquaintances killed two Russian soldiers with a knife as they came out of karaoke, and then took their passports.
Don’t be friends Mykhailo His friend was a taxi driver during the entire occupation. After his wife and son left town, he began passing on information to Nedostup and other members of the resistance.
Mykhailo says that he knows every point hit by the Ukrainian army in Kherson. Here USA, also includes points hit by HIMARS artillery systems. Residents say that HIMARS systems hit Russian soldiers with high accuracy.
“I was always on the move, so I had accurate information,” – says Mykhaylo, leaving the city center in his old Mazda. “Once I transmit information to a target 20 minutes later they destroyed it,” – he says.
“But I don’t like the phrase ‘the best Russian is a dead Russian,'” – Mikhaylo says after a short silence. He says that many of the Russian soldiers who ride in his taxi have been “brainwashed by propaganda” and have “no choice but to serve in the army”.
“War is evil and there is nothing good about death.” – says Mikhailo and parks his car near the Antonov Bridge, which was destroyed by the Russians a few days ago.
Mykhailo’s father remained on the other side of the river – in the territory still controlled by the Russians. Due to poor mobile communication, they cannot even communicate with each other normally.
As soon as the sounds of gunshots and automatic weapons started coming, Mykhailo ended his smoking break on the river bank, immediately jumped into the car and quickly left the area.
Over the following weeks, these voices become more and more frequent. The Russians often fire on the city from the other side of the river. As a result of these attacks, 17 people have been killed in a little more than a week. The danger on the other side of the river overshadows the euphoria of freedom in the city.
“War is a stupid and cruel thing, especially in the 21st century,” – says Mykhaylo, moving quickly towards the city.