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The liberation of the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson was rejoicing. Many families are reunited.
Jenny WagnerNews editor
Tied to lampposts with cable ties, heads bowed to the loathing of locals, two Ukrainians accused of collaborating with Russian occupation forces are marching in the now-liberated city of Kherson. Humiliated, the collaborators await their punishment. But they are not the only ones.
Those who benefited from the Russians must now answer for themselves. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (44) spoke of “neutrality of saboteurs” in his evening speech. Authorities called on people in Kherson to find traitors — or collaborators.
During the eight-month occupation, the Ukrainian population of Kherson was divided into those who resisted the occupiers – even at the risk of their lives – and those who joined the invaders. The latter occupied some high government posts. In between the common people lived trying to survive.
“All Shall Be Punished”
Adviser to the Kherson city mayor, Roman Kolovnia, said that no collaborator could escape responsibility before the law. UKrinform. And: “All shall be punished.”
At the beginning of the war, Ukraine passed new laws to limit cooperation with the enemy. again”Wall Street Journal» From March, voluntary entry into the Russian education system may be punishable by three years in prison, it said. Anyone who takes a senior position in the Russian administration gets up to 10 years, and anyone who helps the Russians in law enforcement gets up to 15 years. Life imprisonment awaits the Ukrainians responsible for the death of another Ukrainian.
What happens in the case of voluntary cooperation?
According to Ukrinform, the Ukrainian secret service has already exposed more than 700 collaborators since the beginning of the war. again”Guardian» Reported in the past, Ukrainians want to punish those responsible “swiftly and severely”. But there are different types of collaborations. “There are those who were looking forward to switching sides, and there are those who cooperated because they wanted to save their lives,” Ukrainian military officer Ilko Boshko told the newspaper. “There are those who were forced to cooperate at gunpoint,” he continues.
Ukrainian officials say everyone will get a fair trial. “It’s not enough for someone to come to us and point the finger at someone else and say, ‘This is a collaborator,'” Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Ukrainian National Police’s investigative division in the Kharkiv region, told Wall. Street Journal..
Some judgments have already come. For example, in Luhansk, a collaborator was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He leaked information to the Russians about Ukrainian troops during the invasion.
Many have already left the liberated areas
Many collaborators left Ukraine as defeat became apparent. Because they know they won’t get away with it. But not everyone could escape. “Those who cannot escape are trying to disperse among peaceful patriotic people,” Golovnia said.
Meanwhile, it remains unclear why two Ukrainian collaborators are being chained to lights while they await their “fair trial.” According to the news portal Medusa However, there have been repeated attempts to kill Ukrainian officials who allegedly aided the Russians. And, in the chaos of war, it is difficult to ascertain who cooperated voluntarily and who was coerced. Ukrainians are divided, some fear, according to «Spiegel» A civil war could break out.
According to the Ukrainian military «Daily Mail» Russian soldiers can hide or hide. Also, the entire city is devastated, electricity and water supply are affected, and individual parts of the city are cut off. Amidst the hugs and tears of joy, fear is still in the air—because the fight isn’t over yet.
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