Thread by @mattia_n

A longer thread 🧵 on the alarming situation in #Ukraine's occupied southeast. The developments are fluid and both alarming and inspiring.
What we are seeing there is the attempt to set up Stalin-like police states (dressed as "People's Republics"). Worst is yet to come. /1

First off, the Russians occupied more ground quickly in the south than elsewhere in Ukraine. They expected the Russian-speaking population to be welcoming but we saw no community or any officials welcoming the occupiers. /2

Instead of being greeted as liberators, citizens flocked to the streets and made it abundantly clear that the Russian forces are NOT welcome. Despite massive intimidations (soldiers firing live rounds in the air), activists, local officials, and citizens resisted peacefully. /3

There are dozens (!) of videos on social media from protests from all over occupied cities in the southeast, from bigger ones like Kherson, Melitopol, Berdyansk, Enerhodar to towns few Kyiv'ites have ever heard of (like (Nova) Kakhovka, Novooleksiyivka, Kalanchak etc.). /4

Many (including myself) made the point that these protests are VERY (!) remarkable. Viewed from Kyiv, the southeast was seen as rather passive. There were nearly no pro-Maidan/European demonstrations in '14. But now we see thousands mobilizing DESPITE massive intimidation. /5

That bravery is inspiring but also very dangerous. Before the war, the Americans (and Brits) warned of (kill) lists of active citizens that the Russians are likely to detain, once they occupy the country. We now see the targeting of active citizens. /6
nytimes.com/2022/02/20/wor…

Before the mayor of Melitopol was arrested on Saturday, Russians detained Leila Ibrahimova, a Crimean Tatar and Deputy Head of the Zaporizhya Regional Council, after carrying out a ‘search’, and seizing her mobile phone. Luckily, she was later released.
/7
khpg.org/en/1608810181

The arrest of Ivan Fedorov, the 33-year-old popular mayor of Melitopol was the first prominent example of a local official being detained. Fedorov has refused to cooperate with occupying forces and called on his citizens to peacefully resist. /8
nytimes.com/2022/03/12/wor…

Fedorov's arrest has sparked condemnation and protest. In his place, the occupying forces installed Halyna Danilchenko, a former city councilor with no popular mandate, who "dissolved" the city government and criticized protestors. /9
edition.cnn.com/europe/live-ne…

Some local context: I spoke to locals from Melitopol who told me that even though Danilchenko was from the Opposition Bloc, which got 26% in the last local elections Danilchenko does NOT enjoy any popular support. /10

In fact, the city council of Melitpol on Sunday (13 March) held an extraordinary session and appealed to the Prosecutor General to a high treason probe into Danilchenko's attempts to create a new city government and dissolving the old one. 👇 /11
mlt.gov.ua/?r=posts.clien…

On the morning of 13 March, Russian forces also searched the home of Sergey Pryima, the chairman of the district (Rayon) council of Melitopol, and detained him. It is intimidation on all fronts. /12
ria-m.tv/news/280208/v_…

🇺🇦 officials reported that they are receiving more reports of abductions from the southeast. Some people are seized at checkpoints after the Russians check their phones and cars and, in all probability, find evidence of their opposition to the invasion /13
khpg.org/en/1608810189

Yesterday, news broke that a second mayor in the Zaporizhzhia region was abducted. Russian forces abducted Yevgeniy Matveyev, the mayor of Dniprorudne, another local who refused to cooperate with the occupiers. /14

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1502950832177913856?s=20&t=RNY-tkRIvCfrWmO3oDfDIw

Oleh Baturyn, a journalist from Kakhovka covering the protests is one of the first journalists to disappear in the south. Oleh was abducted in the Kherson region this weekend. Sadly, those who report about Russia's repressions are the first targets. /15

https://twitter.com/ianbirrell/status/1502950874930462724?s=20&t=RNY-tkRIvCfrWmO3oDfDIw

The list of detainees is getting longer and longer and most names are less prominent but we need to continue monitoring these abductions and do everything we can, to get the people out. /16

https://twitter.com/avalaina/status/1503379318562504708?s=20&t=XPRkterC-dfvpfNvF5PPvw

In the past days, we saw the first attempts of the Russian occupiers to set up another puppet republic. This time the "Kherson People's Republic", another repressive puppet state with a fake veneer of "deniability". /17

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1502665834203820034?s=20&t=t6vMDTvUqTAMkaMEeW04PA

The Kherson Oblast council already held an emergency meeting to speak out against the Russian efforts. The council declared that "Kherson region is Ukraine" and "there will be no pseudo-republic in the region." /18

https://twitter.com/mattia_n/status/1502774876662345728?s=20&t=RNY-tkRIvCfrWmO3oDfDIw

Meanwhile, the intimidations continue and Galina Lugovaya, the Secretary of the Kherson City Council told the Suspilne: "I was left without a house. I think I'm on a kill list". Assailants came to her house in a suburb of Kherson, and burned it down. /19
suspilne.media/217257-u-herso…

In summary, we are seeing in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions what the "Russian world" looks like for Ukrainians. Russia is busy setting up a repressive Stalin-like occupation regime. We saw the playbook in 2014/15 and we are seeing it again. /end

Today, Russian military forces surrounded the central square of Melitopol and forbid citizens to demonstrate there. Eyewitnesses told Hromadske Radio that two more activists were abducted...

https://twitter.com/HromadskeRadio/status/1503387323932815362?s=20&t=TkA5d-aU3v_myaV4Wydh7A

Another good article on the situation in 🇺🇦’s southeast, where officials were detained and local radio station play Soviet ballads and Russian pop songs, interspersed with excerpts from Putin’s speeches and news items about 🇺🇦 being “liberated from Nazis”.
theguardian.com/world/2022/mar…

An important update: Ivan Fedorov, the detained mayor of Melitopol, is now in the Russian occupied Luhansk, where he faces extremely bizarre charges of financing right wing terrorist groups. This is nothing but a tragic farce. We cannot let Fedorov be disappeared there…

https://twitter.com/Mariia_Zolkina/status/1503487266718638083

Russian forces are holding Alexander Musiyenko, a village head of Chulakivka, in the Kherson region, hostage. Musiyenko said armed Russian soldiers are trying to control what he is saying to his citizens. He warns his citizens of searches in the village.
facebook.com/groups/3663709…

On 12 March 2 journalists disappeared in Kakhova and Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region. @suspilne_news talked with friends & family to learn about the abductions of Oleh Baturyn and Serhiy Tsyhypa. Both were actively covering developments on the ground.
suspilne.media/217374-v-timca…

Serhiy Tsyhypa, a journalist from Nova Kakhovka, near Kherson, was walking his dog past a Russian military checkpoint. He was questioned there and not seen since. Both Tsyhypa and Baturyn are believed to have been illegally detained by the Russian occupying forces.