odanny
Diamond Member
This reminds me somewhat of the blinders worn by the United States in its occupation of Iraq. You invade a country and you think that you can make the locals like and respect you, although this was much worse, thinking you can force them to like and respect you.
KHERSON, Ukraine — Iryna Dyagileva’s daughter attended a school where the curriculum included memorizing the Russian national anthem. But teachers ignored it, instead quietly greeting students in the morning with a salute: “Glory to Ukraine!”
The occupation authorities asked Olha Malyarchuk, a clerk at a taxi company, to settle bills in rubles. But she kept paying in Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia.
“It just didn’t work,” Ms. Malyarchuk said of the Russian propaganda that was beamed into televisions and plastered on billboards for the nine months of Russia’s occupation of Kherson. On Sunday, she was walking in a park, waving a small Ukrainian flag.
One roadside billboard proclaimed in bold text, “We are together with Russia!” But a teenager who offered only his first name, Oleksandr, had shinned up the supporting pole and was tearing the sign to pieces. Asked how he felt, he said, “Free.”
But the city of Kherson stands out: It was the focus of an ambitious Russian campaign to assimilate the citizenry and stamp out Ukrainian identity — a goal President Vladimir V. Putin harbored for all of Ukraine had his military been more successful, judging by his assertions that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation.
In Kherson, national songs were banned. Speaking Ukrainian could lead to arrest. Schools adopted Russian curriculums, and young students were to be told that they were Russians, not Ukrainians.
In the early days of the city’s liberation, it appears that those Russian efforts were largely futile, at least among those who remained in the city as Ukrainian forces approached.
Serhiy Bloshko, a construction worker, had lived at friends’ houses through the nine-month occupation, fearing arrest for having joined anti-occupation protests in March, soon after the Russian Army arrived. Soldiers did go to his home. Not finding him, they made off with his television and refrigerator, he said.
But the Russians found some of his friends, who were detained and vanished, he said.
“They repressed the pro-Ukrainian population,” said Mr. Bloshko, who was interviewed in a line for water on Sunday afternoon. Of the cultural assimilation effort, he said, “What happened here was ethnic cleansing.”
www.nytimes.com
KHERSON, Ukraine — Iryna Dyagileva’s daughter attended a school where the curriculum included memorizing the Russian national anthem. But teachers ignored it, instead quietly greeting students in the morning with a salute: “Glory to Ukraine!”
The occupation authorities asked Olha Malyarchuk, a clerk at a taxi company, to settle bills in rubles. But she kept paying in Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia.
“It just didn’t work,” Ms. Malyarchuk said of the Russian propaganda that was beamed into televisions and plastered on billboards for the nine months of Russia’s occupation of Kherson. On Sunday, she was walking in a park, waving a small Ukrainian flag.
One roadside billboard proclaimed in bold text, “We are together with Russia!” But a teenager who offered only his first name, Oleksandr, had shinned up the supporting pole and was tearing the sign to pieces. Asked how he felt, he said, “Free.”
But the city of Kherson stands out: It was the focus of an ambitious Russian campaign to assimilate the citizenry and stamp out Ukrainian identity — a goal President Vladimir V. Putin harbored for all of Ukraine had his military been more successful, judging by his assertions that Ukrainians and Russians are one nation.
In Kherson, national songs were banned. Speaking Ukrainian could lead to arrest. Schools adopted Russian curriculums, and young students were to be told that they were Russians, not Ukrainians.
In the early days of the city’s liberation, it appears that those Russian efforts were largely futile, at least among those who remained in the city as Ukrainian forces approached.
Serhiy Bloshko, a construction worker, had lived at friends’ houses through the nine-month occupation, fearing arrest for having joined anti-occupation protests in March, soon after the Russian Army arrived. Soldiers did go to his home. Not finding him, they made off with his television and refrigerator, he said.
But the Russians found some of his friends, who were detained and vanished, he said.
“They repressed the pro-Ukrainian population,” said Mr. Bloshko, who was interviewed in a line for water on Sunday afternoon. Of the cultural assimilation effort, he said, “What happened here was ethnic cleansing.”
Russia Tried to Absorb a Ukrainian City. It Didn’t Work. (Published 2022)
In Kherson, national songs were banned, speaking Ukrainian could lead to arrest, and students were told they were Russian. Cue the resistance.
