Liberated Ukrainians recall the horrific sexual abuse—called ‘Biden’s Call’—which they suffered the first time around as Russia threatens to re-occupy the region.
Kherson was the first major city to fall to Russian forces in the days after President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale operation in Ukraine began. Few people had time to flee before the city fell to the Russians, including members of Kherson’s government, who remained trapped under occupation with a target on their backs.
Now, Kherson is once again a frontline town where attacks happen most days. With no new aid from the U.S. and a low supply of weapons, the authorities who remain fear that there might be fighting on their streets again, and the trauma of Russian occupation is omnipresent in their minds.
One man who asked to be referred to as “Ihor” told The Daily Beast that many people in Kherson resisted Russian soldiers by protests, working in underground networks, or sending information to Ukraine’s military when the city was occupied two years ago. Ihor and his wife had been attending anti-occupation protests for months and consuming Ukrainian news on their hidden cell phone.
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