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When Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in late February, the Russian president vowed his forces would not occupy the country. But as the invasion reached its 100th day Friday, Moscow seemed increasingly unwilling to relinquish the territory it has taken in the war. The ruble is now an official currency in the southern Kherson region, alongside the Ukrainian Hryvnia.Residents there and in Russia-controlled parts of the Zaporizhzhia region are being offered expedited Russian passports. The Kremlin-installed administrations in both regions have talked about plans to become part of Russia.
The Moscow-backed leaders of separatist areas in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which is mostly Russian-speaking, have expressed similar intentions. Putin recognised the separatists' self-proclaimed republics as independent two days before launching the invasion, and fierce fighting has been underway in the east for weeks as Russia seeks to “liberate” all of the Donbas.
The Kremlin has largely kept mum about its plans for the cities, towns and villages it has bombarded, encircled and finally captured. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said it will be up to the people living in seized areas to decide their status.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said this week that enemy forces now control almost 20 per cent of the country's territory. Before the war, Russia controlled 7 per cent, including the Crimea Peninsula and parts of the Donbas.
With pitched battles still underway in various parts of the country, and death and destruction still the norm, how is the country coping?
Anger, despair, hope are among the many emotions that will hit you as you scroll through photojournalist Serhii Korovayny’s Instagram feed. It is after 10pm Ukraine time, in the final week of May, that Sergey joins THE WEEK for a Skype call. The journalist, whose works have been published in Politico and The Washington Post seems weary, but speaks in detail about the current situation.
Edited excerpts:
Q. What is the current situation like?
Very fortunately, in Kyiv, thanks to the Ukrainian military, things have been looking up in the last couple of months. Before that, it was scary. The Russian troops were on the verge of closing in. Even now, there is shelling, but I am safe in my apartment. The situation is better, and Kharkiv is better. I am worried as my parents are in Khartsyzsk and they cannot go anywhere. As of now, though, they are safe. I just got back from Khartsyzsk and it is better because Russians have been kicked out. But, the people are still living in basements. My wife is here with me. At the beginning of the war, she went to the western city of Lyiv. And now she is back. My parents are in the occupied territory—the territory in the east the Russians have been occupying. We have problems talking to each other because the connection is bad. My wife’s family is in the northern region and there is fighting going on there. They are okay, but do not feel safe.
Q. Are essentials like food available?
Food has been available since the beginning of the war, thankfully. Thanks to the government, there has been no shortage of essentials yet. In the south and the east, people are struggling to find food to eat and there is no access to clean water and, of course, there are problems on the frontlines. It is just that people have been shaken up, they are in shock. There aren't many attacks in Kyiv. While some [civilians] have been coming out, a lot of others have been in the basement and the subway. So, it is horrible in a way.
Q. How did you feel when the war began?
It was a shock, of course, but has been a long time coming. Ukraine has been in a war of sorts with Russia for eight years, especially in the East. It has now blown up into a full-scale war. The British and American newspapers were screaming that a war was about to break out, but we did not want to believe it. When the war began, I was in Kharkiv. I was working as a producer there. I immediately drove to Kyiv, to safety, to be with my wife. It was scary, it was a total mess. We didn’t understand what was happening. There was a possibility that Russia was going occupy Donbas and Kharkiv, as they have more tanks and military personnel than we do and so, I came home initially and went back to take pictures. Every one was just driving out of the city, with jets flying about. I was concerned about my country and personal safety. At the same time, we could fight with Russia. And we saw some success—it was all so inspiring, it is a great feeling that your country is strong.
Q. Being a journalist, everyday you tend to see all kinds of news—violence and crime. But it is different when it is happening in your own backyard. How did you manage to compartmentalise that?
It is hard. I was feeling okay initially. Then I started to work on war crime stories—went to areas that was occupied by the Russians, where people were killed. Went to basements to talk to people. I even went to Bucha. That is when I started to feel broken and realised I need to get some recovery. Just talking to the survivors is tough. But, what those people survived, is something I am still not being able to process properly. I have been working as a journalist for many years, but, I didn’t expect this kind of violence. My wife still cannot fathom what is happening. I try to keep myself normal. The people who have survived the horrors, it is definitely tougher for them.
There was a boy, who was maybe 19 or 20 in a village north to Kyiv. He was imprisoned by Russians for two weeks. He was with 14 other people in a very small basement. The boy remembers everything—how the Russians behaved with them. The prisoners were told that the Russian troops would kill four from amongst them. And that they had to decide among themselves who was going to be killed. Everyone fell silent. The Russian troops were not bad to the boy as he had cooked for them. So, they did not beat him as much. So, they asked him to choose who should be killed. The boy asked them to kill him instead. They took him out to a cemetery. The Russian soldier just got him on his knees and shot above his head and said [he was spared] because he helped them bit. And asked him to run. That was just one among the many stories.
Q. Where were you when the clashes between separatists and pro-Ukrainians took place in 2014?
I was just starting out as a journalist then. I did not cover it much, but it was a big story for me. They weren’t really separatists, but Russians and their proxies. I didn’t cover the incidents much, but I did go home a few times and took a few images of the Russian occupation. These were the first images by me as a photojournalist.
Q. How and when do you hope it would end?
I have been thinking about it a lot these days. We are in a much better condition than we were in three months ago. We have liberated a huge part of the territory, and we are safe here in Kyiv. On the other hand, I am tired and depressed because it feels endless. And the Russians are digging in. Recently, they allowed people in the occupied regions to have a Russian passport. The end depends on may factors, including Western help. We need weapons. If we get weapons, we will do our best to reoccupy those territories. At this moment, I feel that both sides are very tired. For me, thank god, it looks like things are more or less okay. One cannot really predict anything IN this war. I do want it to end soon with an Ukrainian victory. A few journalists have been killed in the war. A friend of mine was capturing visuals using a drone when it fell into the Russian occupied region. He went to pick it up. When the troops left Kyiv region, we found his body and there were two bullet wounds
Q. Do you feel the Russian-speaking people in the east want to be a part of Russia?
I am a Russian-speaking Ukrainian and I hate Russia. And 90 per cent of the Russian-speaking Ukrainians don’t want anything to do with Russia. It was a huge mistake on Russia’s part to start this war because now we don’t want any kind of friendship or economic relationship. This isn’t just my example. I was in Kharkiv, which has majority Russian-speaking population, who have family in Russia and businesses in Russia—the Russians just shelled the city, burnt houses and killed scores of people. And this is something I don’t understand. Why would you kill Russian-speaking people, who in another circumstance would want to have good relations with Russia. Donbas, for example, is a largely Russian-speaking region—but after everything they have done to us, we don’t want anything to do with Russia. There has been no oppression of Russian-speaking people—I can do what I want, speak in Russia, there are no restrictions. This thing that the Russian-speaking population wants to be a part of Russia is just propaganda.
