A resident of the first city in Ukraine claimed to have been taken by Russian troops says he is terrified and “has no hope”.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it had taken control of the strategically important city of Kherson as the invasion of the country reached its seventh day.
In a speech, Igor Konashenkov said vital infrastructure and city transport were working as usual and that Kherson did not suffer from a lack of food and basic commodities.
However, a resident spoken to by the Standard said he fears “hunger will kill people”.
Hussain moved to the Ukrainian city in 2020 with his wife and then one-year-old daughter. Now, he is concerned he might not be able to feed his young family.
“War is a terrifying thing for sure. I haven’t seen war before but it’s scary. When the war began, the first few hours were shocking... but things started changing. On the first evening Ukrainians were pushing Russians back which gave us some hope. Now the city has collapsed, we have no hope.”
After news broke on Wednesday morning, Kherson Mayor Igor Nikolayev said in a post on Facebook: “We are still Ukraine. Still firm” but Hussain says all he has been seeing is Russian military.
“Everyday I was seeing Ukrainian ambulances and sometimes police patrolling but the only thing I see patrolling now is Russian tanks.”
In a video posted on social media, Hussain walks around Kherson’s deserted streets showing people that the banks have no money, supermarket doors are closed and others have empty shelves.
Following my previous tweets I got a chance to go out to get some supplies #Kherson #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/gI1MUz7uQc
— Hussain (@1mHussain) March 2, 2022
“I don’t know if the Russians will kill us or not but hunger will kill people here for sure. I am father of a three-year old daughter and this is scary. I have worked all my life and this inability to feed your child at the end, it’s the scariest thing I have seen.”
Asked if he thought there was any hope, he said: “This situation is not going to get resolved, I think what Ukrainians can do is stretch this war and the more you stretch it there are more hardships for civilians - hunger and stuff like that.
“I just hope that Putin will think of civilians as humans for one time. No matter what is happening between militaries - it’s a separate thing - but civilians should not be affected. We need your prayers, that’s all I want to say.”
