This easily fits the standards for Genocide. Russia is doing what Russia has always done — since Muscovy massacred everyone in Novgorod who wasn’t a peasant.

The Soviet Union was peak Russia.

Please read about how bad things are in Kherson…

https://twitter.com/shchedri/status/1524861103242723359

@JosephStash
I have a friend in Kherson and the situation is incredibly bad.

They said to me:
“I am reading a lot of shit about Kherson, unfortunately it’s nothing compared to reality. It is much, much worse”

Ukrainians are facing a dire situation, which I’ll lay out in a short thread:

– Escape routes out of the city are blocked. My friend has attempted to get out several times – the last driver they were in contact with was captured and had their car destroyed.

There are now many Russians in Kherson who arrived for the 9th May parade. Many of them now work at the market and sell Russian products. My friend says that when they go out now they don’t see familiar faces. Russians are arriving to replace Ukrainians and live in their homes.

– This sort of thing is going on all over Kherson.

For example, a story of a Russian person moving into an apartment block, becoming admin of the block and sending messages to residents about how they want Ukrainians to burn.

– There are checkpoints between Kherson and all other cities – the Russian army check all papers and search anyone who comes into the city.
People are forced to undress and show any tattoos, to check for any “pro-Western” or patriotic iconography.

Hearing this stuff from people on the ground is utterly horrific. Wider coverage of the war seems to have faded away in many media outlets, which means that people shrug their shoulders and probably assume everything is a bit better now. In Kherson, it is very much not the case.

Getting a fair amount of journalists dm-ing me wanting to speak to those I know in Kherson. Please note that if you want to be put in touch I need to absolutely be assured that you know your way around encrypted comms and anonymity. I’m not compromising their safety for a story.

Ok. Here is a short voice recording from my friend in Kherson. Here they outline some of the stuff in my thread, and also a message about what Ukrainians there are feeling. The audio is subtitled.