Darkness settles in the eerily silent parking lot of a shopping mall in Zaporizhia. Families wait in line, alongside their cars. They are waiting to present their documents to the Ukrainian police responsible for verifying and registering their identity. A man and his son, aside, discuss softly. The large calm eyes of the child shine with admiration for the father. He listens to her recount their journey over the past 48 hours. The two have just left the occupied city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, to reach Zaporizhia, further east, a compulsory crossing point for those fleeing the southern territories controlled by Russian forces.
The man is called Aleksandr and he will say no more. His voice chokes as he confides that he left his parents behind. They were the reason he had decided to stay despite living under Russian occupation for over six months. The events of the last few days have finally convinced him to leave everything. On Tuesday, September 20, first, the pro-Russian representatives of the partially occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, in the east, and Zaporizhia and Kherson, in the south, announced the holding of a referendum of “attachment” to the Russian Federation, September 23-27. Finally, on Wednesday, in response to the retreat of his forces in eastern Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin decreed a “partial mobilization”, forcing tens of thousands of men to enlist in the army.
Rigged results
Aleksandr left Kherson because he feared that by staying in territory annexed by Russia he would be called upon to fight against his own people. “If they take me, who will take care of my son? », he asks. The little boy hasn’t seen his mother since his two parents divorced. This last is a “separatist” who lives in Sevastopol, in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. The father does not doubt for a moment that the results of the polls, in Kherson as elsewhere, will be rigged. “I don’t know what to say about these referendums because it all makes me want to vomit. At home, people have the impression of living in a fictional universe. »
The man remembers the first weeks of occupation, at the start of the invasion, at the end of February, when his fellow citizens, driven by incredible courage, demonstrated in the streets. The vast majority of them left or disappeared, hit by an implacable repressive system. The remaining population is divided between pro-Russians and those who cannot afford to leave. This Friday, September 23, the first day of the referendum, while he was heading with his son to Zaporijia, Aleksandr received a distress call from his mother. “The Russians threaten pensioners not to pay their pensions if they do not participate in the ballot”, breathes the man, tears in his eyes. “I support my country but I told my mother to vote to join the Russian Federation. She couldn’t survive otherwise. »
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