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Life under Russian occupation

A secret recording by a local journalist as Russian tanks rolled into his home city.

On the 1st March 2022 Dmytro Bahnenko, a journalist in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, watched Russian tanks roll down his street. As his world, like many Ukrainians鈥, turned upside down, he secretly started filming everything around him, sensing history in the making, and sharing the footage with the 成人论坛.

Over the next three months Dmytro recorded his city鈥檚 resistance. There are acts of defiance followed by a violent crackdown. The city changes. Food and medicine become scarce. Russian military vehicles marked with the 鈥淶鈥 speed up and down Kherson streets. Shelling is heard round the clock. Many people flee. Friends and prominent local people start to disappear - others are put through mock executions.

As the Russians make their intentions clearer, Dmytro and his wife Lidia struggle to shelter their 5-year old daughter Ksusha from what is happening. Eventually they decide to leave the city.

For 5 Minutes On, he reflects and shares his family's experience of living and surviving in Russian occupied Ukraine.

Dymytro Bahnenko鈥檚 words were read by Dzhafer Umerov. Image Credit: 成人论坛 News

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7 minutes