Behoorlijk uitgebreid artikel over het bezette gebied en de rol van het verzet.
https://unherd.com/2022/07/inside-the-ukrainian-resistance/
De russen doen aan snelrecht, aka, als je een klacht over iemand hebt, zoals je buurman die jou geen drank wilde geven, dan sluiten ze die buurman wel even voor je op. En als je iets gestolen hebt, dan komen ze je wel even in elkaar meppen. En dat proberen ze als een voordeel te verkopen, want het eigenlijke rechtssysteem duurt wel erg lang, hè.
Yet at the same time, the Russians also try to ingratiate themselves. Key to their efforts is the concept of what they call “swift justice”. The principle is simple: justice through the courts can take forever, so why not let them deliver it instead? Of course, it’s also a way of legitimising violence. Soldiers now accept “complaints” from locals and when they break into houses and administer more beatings, they can say they are merely responding to citizen requests.
It’s a system that is easily open to abuse. Danylov heard a story from one of the villages of a man who went to the checkpoint and made a complaint to the Russians: his neighbour had refused to give him any booze. The soldiers went to the man’s house and imprisoned him for 15 days (on what charge it’s hard to fathom). In another village, a local criminal robbed a house, and the Russians came round to his place and beat him severely. “They are trying to say this is good because if you try to go through the courts it will take years whereas they deliver justice quickly. They are trying to ‘bribe’ the locals through things like this,” says Danylov.
Verder zien we het al eerder bekende gedrag, van Russen die zich helemaal klem drinken, zelf huizen leegroven, en mensen laten verdwijnen.
. My sources inside Kherson are clear: the occupying forces are robbing people’s houses; they are always drunk, often from first thing in the morning; people are disappearing every day, especially in the port city of Genichesk.
Daarnaast is afpersingen een goede bron van inkomsten, wil je door een checkpoint heen, dan mag je daar goed voor betalen. En soms lijkt het ze wel cool om de wegrijdende auto's even te bombarderen met hun grads.
It would be unfair, however, to say the soldiers are just there to drink and beat people up; they also want to make money. Checkpoints are not just places of violence and intimidation, but of extortion as well. An informal tariff — based around different classes of vehicle — has come into effect. To get your car through without the endless queuing will cost $500 or more. A bus costs $2,000, a truck $20,000. Sometimes cars are allowed to leave without paying, and every so often the Russians shell them with BM-21 Grads — just to teach them a lesson for going back into Ukraine.
Ze doen hun bijnaam 'orcs' wel eer aan.
(Alhoewel ik zelf aan de trollen van David de kabouter moet denken
YouTube: alleen de trollen van David de kabouter 01)
Russische kanelen delen graag foto's van mensen die in grote getale in de rij staan voor het openen van Russische bankrekeningen en paspoorten. Maar dat is de enige manier om salaris gestort te krijgen, en dat paspoort krijg je er dan verplicht bij.
The Russians are trying to control all aspects of life, too. If you want to receive your salary into a bank account, you need to open an account in the bank the Russians have set up in the former Raiffeisen Bank building. “I saw huge lines of people there,” says one resident. “The catch, though, is that if you want the account, you also have to get a Russian passport, which people don’t want.”
Wil je niet samenwerken met de Russen, dan krijg je weer met het 'snelrecht' te maken, en kun je het ziekenhuis in geslagen worden.
In the village of Bekhtery, the principal refused to collaborate and was beaten so badly she was left almost disabled. The head of the local council agreed to collaborate and tried to convince all teachers and civil servants to cooperate as well. Those who refused were betrayed to the Russians who sent patrols round to their houses to beat them up. “Collaborators are constantly looking to expand their influence,” says
Onderwijl laat het verzet ook van zich horen.
Met de posters en met graffiti.
Posters are now going up across the city, many with images of individual collaborators accompanied by personal messages.”Kiril, we’ve got something for you,” reads one with an image of the man’s head above drawings of a noose, a gun and an exploding car. A similar poster shows an image of a corpse half-covered in dirt: “A lot of Russians are already wormfood. You’re next.” Graffiti splayed across a central street in the town of Hola Prystan reads: “AFU [the Ukrainian army] is nearby. Orcs be afraid. Hopry [short for Hola Prystan] is Ukraine”.
De collaborateurs en de Russen moeten constant voor hun leven vrezen. We hebben al meerdere publieke aanslagen voorbij zien komen. Maar er gebeurt heel veel stiekem in het donker.
Stropers schieten op Russische soldaten die 's nachts patrouilleren. Jongeren die 's nachts met messen op de dronken soldaten insteken. En... een hele groep die bij iemand ging borrelen, en vervolgens met doorgesneden kelen werd gevonden.
These actions are boosting morale inside Kherson. “Attempts to physically eliminate collaborators are very popular,” the activist continues. “Everybody wants to oppose the Russians and is waiting for the quick return of the Ukrainian armed forces. There are even cases of poachers shooting Russian soldiers patrolling the river at night. That’s why the ‘liberators’ now move only in convoys of three or more boats. They are afraid. I think that it’s only by these sorts of methods will we have success. They need to feel constantly afraid for their lives.”
It’s hard to assess just how widespread violent resistance is. Most of the cases remain unpublicised because the Russians don’t want to appear weak or vulnerable and the partisans don’t want to jeopardise their security. In many small towns, there are a lot of cases of youths with knives stabbing drunken soldiers. No one says anything because it’s bad both for the Russians and for the kids.
But there are more sophisticated actions as well. A few weeks ago, several Russian soldiers were invited for a drink, and all had their throats cut.
Dit filmpje had ik al gedeeld, maar ik gooi hem er gewoon nog een keer in, want ik vind het erg leuk gedaan.