Extinction of Ukrainian residents in Russia - controlled region

On the morning of March 12, shortly after 9: 00 a.m., Serhiy Tsyhipa greeted his wife and left home in the southern Ukrainian town of Nova Kahovka. Along with his dog Ais, he set out to meet his colleagues in a nearby town.

Tsyhipa, a 60-year-old activist, blogger, and vocal opponent of Russia's occupation, also had to send some drugs to his mother-in-law.

He never showed up. He never came home. His phone was activated twice in a few minutes and that's it. I could only send voice messages, nothing more”, Free Europe Radio, Olena, the wife of Serhiy Tshipa.

On the same day that Tsyhipa disappeared, Oleh Baturi, journalist in a local media called Noviy Den, also disappeared. Family members and colleagues are still looking for him.

In the southern region of Ukraine, Herson, people are disappearing. The latest case occurred on March 16th, when armed men captured the mayor of the coastal town of Skadovsk and his deputy, and sent them to an unknown location.

Most of this region, which geographically includes the Black Sea coast, the mouth of the Dneipr River and the administrative border with Russia-controlled Crime, has been under occupation since March 3rd, when Russian forces entered the regional capital, also called Herson.

This was the first large Ukrainian city to be controlled by the Russians since Moscow began its extensive invasion on February 24th.

Herson residents have opposed the invasion by organising marches across the city, waving Ukrainian flags and openly confronting Russian troops. In Skadovsk, protesters have gathered outside the local administration building, demanding the chairman be released.

A few hours later, Chairman Oleksandr Yakovlyev published a video on the internet, where he said he had been released and that others would be released too soon. In the video, however, he looked and sounded bad.

So far, Russian forces have largely refrained from using violence against such protests, at least publicly. During a March 13th march, Russian soldiers were seen shooting weapons into the air, which appeared to be an attempt to intimidate protesters in Herson.

But local residents said the number of missing persons is increasing, while there are reports that armed persons some camouflaged, others without any identifying marks, are going door-to-door search for citizens.

So far, 400 people have reportedly disappeared in this region in recent weeks, Ukrainian Army officials have said.

These are activists, organisers of the” gatherings, Pavlo Keba, resident of Herson, told Time Current.

“They are trying to press all kinds of protests because they are seeing that people are absolutely not afraid to march in front of Russian troops and we fully understand what they say”.

The occupational forces have also suggested that they plan to organise a referendum on the independence of the Herson region a fraudulent vote according to local residents and the Ukrainian Government, which would serve as the pretext for shaping Russian control.

Serhiy Khlan, deputy head of the Herson regional council, told Credit Time that Russian officials appear to be looking for pro-Ukrainian activists and local lawmakers.

“They are hiding, but they are being sought [by Russian forces]. There were raids. Russian forces are searching for them in the town of Herson and in the region's suburbs. Those advisers who received telephone calls refused [to co-operate]”, he said.

Khlan also said Russian police and civilians were sent to patrol and govern with the city. Likely, civilians were sent to Russia's National Guard, an extremely militarized police force that directly responds to President Vladimir Putin. He also said that among the police officials are former members of Ukraine's notorious police unit, known as Berkut.

This unit was known for its violent crackdown on protesters and has been blamed for most of the deaths of Ukrainian civilians who took place in February 2014 in the final days of protests on Maidan Street.

Olena Tsyhipa told the REL that after she started publicising her husband's disappearance, she began to hear from other residents of Nova Kahova that they saw her husband in a checkpoint of army control.

I found the dog. Some good people called me and told me that he was tied” to the local administration office, she said. He was very scared”.

She said she believes that her husband, but also Noviy De journalist Oleh Baturi, have been arrested or because they have refused to accept the Russian invasion or because they have spoken publicly against this invasion.

“They are arrested in order not to write down anything pro-Ukrainian, because they are waging a war of information that is seriously hindering invaders”, she said.

Baturiin's wife, Natalina, said her husband left the house on March 12th after his colleagues contacted her and proposed that they meet at a nearby bus stop.

He went to see his colleagues who called him. Then we have no information, nothing. He took nothing with him”, she said.

In an unverified post on the TikTok social platform, a Herson resident named Oksana posted a video she said was showing her husband by being taken by masked, armed and camouflaged men.

Give my husband back to me. Do you understand you're in a foreign state? Do you realize you're in a foreign country? Give my husband back to me. He doesn't even have a” gun, it's heard saying.

Radio Free Europe couldn't verify this video. This TickTok user has not responded to messages for further information.

Reports of violent disappearances have not been reported in Herson alone. In the town of Melitopol, located in the nearby Zaporizja region, authorities charged Russian forces that on March 11th they kidnapped the town's mayor by taking him from his offices, placing a bag on his head and sending him to an unknown location.

On March 16, Ukrainian authorities said that the chairman of Melitopol has been released.

Meanwhile, a resident of Melitopol, who was introduced only as Anna, told Cohort Time that armed men are going door - to - door to - door in parts of the city including inside the building she lives in.

They broke the entrance door at night. They wanted to blow the door to the man's apartment they were looking for. We convinced them not to do so, explaining that no one long lived in the apartment they were looking for, said.

“It's a witch hunt or like the system that was in 1937, I don't know what this is, but it's alarming <x2x1>, she said, referring to the great depression that took place during the era of Soviet dictator Josep Stalin, a period known as the Great “Terreagonus”.

She said several armed men, judged by their accent, felt as if they were from Donbassi region east of Ukraine that for eight years has been the scene of war between Ukrainian government forces and Russian-backed separatists, who control parts of the two provinces of Donjeck and Luhansk.

She said patrols were confiscated from residents mobile phones, tablets and other electronic devices when they are stopping at the checkpoints.

Heavy bombings have taken place in Butka, a suburb of the capital, Kiev. The city council said six municipality employees and volunteers were detained by the Russian Army and later released. The circumstances following their kidnapping are not yet clear.

Serhiy Tomilenko, director of the National Journalists' Union, said the organisation is accepting a growing number of Harrison's reports about unidentified persons breaking the doors to journalists' houses and public figures who have publicly demonstrated any kind of Ukrainian patriotism.

He said he sees similarities with what happened in Crime after Russia annexed this Ukrainian peninsula in 2014.

“One of their first actions was cleansing, in particular, of the public information space of those who are willing to criticise or simply testify to crimes or actions involving taking power, control... by committing large-scale human rights violations”, he told Radio Free Europe.