According to Ukrainian media reports, on February 27, the mayor ofKupyansk,Kharkiv Oblast, Gennady Matsegora (Геннадій Мацегора) negotiated with theRussian army to surrender the city without bloodshed, and in return he will remain as mayor of the city.[1]
According to international media reports, on March 12, the Russian army set up a temporary administrative agency inMelitopol and appointedGalina Danilchenko as the mayor of the city, while the elected Ukrainian mayor,Ivan Fedorov, was arrested by the Russian army.[2]
According toSergei Tsekov, a member of theFederation Council, the purpose of the establishment by the Russian military of administrative branches in the occupied areas is to maintain people's livelihoods and optimize the management of settlements and territories, like maintaining hospitals, housing operations, human services and emergency services. The government of the occupied territory will provide food, receive and organize humanitarian aid and, in certain cases, may perform the functions of a law enforcement agency if necessary.[5]
However, a teacher from the Russian General Staff Military Academy toldBBC News Russian that the Russian military authorities were performing their supposed duties of providing for the occupied cities and that residents, while officials of the occupied areas also reported shortages of local food and agricultural products.[6]
In order to intimidate civilians and weaken their will to resist, the Russian army often kidnapped local officials.[7] After the beginning of Russian occupation in Kherson Oblast, almost half of the inhabitants left the city of Kherson, and one in five left Kherson Oblast entirely. Many of those who remained initially took part inpro-Ukrainian rallies, but later became diminished with reports of large-scalekidnappings,tortures,robberies andrapes by the Russian military.[8] The Russian army prohibited people living in the occupied areas from traveling to Ukrainian-controlled areas, allegedly deported nearly 900,000 Ukrainian citizens to Russia,[9] which theKremlin insists were humanitarian evacuations.[10] There were also reports that Russian authorities detained many Ukrainians infiltration camps.[11]
In addition, the Russian army regularly intimidates or kidnaps journalists,[12] forcing them to carry outpropaganda for Russia.Lyudmila Denisova, the Ukrainian commissioner for human rights of theVerkhovna Rada, accused the Russian army of "establishing terror andcensorship" in the occupied territories.[13] There are reports that the Russian military has forced university students inDPR andLPR-controlled areas to collectively donate blood for wounded Russian soldiers,[14] which is a violation against theGeneva Conventions if proven true.
Russian forces removed theUkrainian flag in the occupied areas. InYakymivka,Zaporizhzhia Oblast, they forced a local resident who had taken down theRussian flag to apologize to the camera. The occupied territory is trying to replace theUkrainian hryvnia with theRussian ruble,[15] and also issues Russian passports in the occupied territory.[16] In addition, Ukrainian-language channels have largely stopped broadcasts in the occupied areas, and television towers have been replaced byRussian-language channels.[17]
