https://apple.news/A6oiNWwE0RdyxtErQjtBJ9Q
Anti-Russian demonstrations in Russian occupied cities as the Russians attempt to replace local government with pro-Moscow officials. The mayors of Melitopol and Dniprorudne have allegedly been kidnapped by the Russians. I saw other reports that noted that the mayor of Melitopol was an ethic Russian.ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—Russian forces are killing civilians and looting stores and homes across occupied parts of southern Ukraine, residents said, as Moscow arrested elected local leaders and sought to replace them with pro-Russian collaborators.
People arriving here from Russian-held areas over the weekend described hungry and undisciplined Russian troops shooting unarmed villagers, breaking into supermarkets and shops, and raiding homes in search of food and valuables as their own supply lines have failed.
“They just brazenly come in, without any shame, and take whatever they want,” said Valentyna Khodus, 64, who came to Zaporizhzhia from the small village of Myrne after days hiding in the cellar with her daughter and grandson as Russian troops went door to door ransacking houses.
Two neighbors who were driving a car with a Ukrainian flag were shot and killed by a Russian patrol last week, she said. “It’s still there, on the roadside, and their bodies are still inside,” Ms. Khodus said.
Demonstrators in Melitopol said Russians were surprised at the level of popular discontent. “They can’t believe that people come out to protest without being paid and that we do not have a single leader,” said Tatiana Kumok, a 40-year-old designer of wedding dresses.
Russian soldiers in Myrne, she said, “had the gall to come and ask: Do you like us, do you appreciate that we have come to liberate you?”
“Not so much,” Ms. Khodus said fellow villagers replied. “We had no need for you.”
Anatolii Kurtiev, the acting mayor of Zaporizhzhia, said only a small part of the population, nostalgic for their Soviet-era youth, would work with the Russians.
“The Soviet occupation lasted 70 years, and some people still have a good memory of that time: It was safe, there was something to eat and something to drink,” he said. “But we are a different generation, and all that is not enough for us. What we need is freedom, freedom to live in our own country where nobody else tells us what to do.”
