From Human Rights in Ukraine by Halya Coynash
Even Russians supporting their country’s invasion of Ukraine, and local collaborators admit that they have every reason to fear for their lives, with the population hating them
Russia’s reliance on fake referendums; terror; state propaganda and rewritten history books to push its narrative about the Ukrainian territory that it seized in 2022 has encountered a new obstruction. All of the claims about near 100% support for ‘joining Russia’ mean little when the Russian-installed ‘leaders’ of such territory live in fear of their lives and ‘Russian world’ fanatics also admit that Ukrainians hate them.
Edward Balytsky is one of the first collaborators whom Russia installed as ‘leader’ of occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia oblast in 2022. Since that time, he has seen a number of other collaborators blown up or shot dead by members of the population, and he clearly fears that he may be next. In at least two interviews to Russian propaganda television, Balytsky has complained about the level of security that “the leadership” in occupied Zaporizhzhia needs just to stay alive. One of the most telling details is that they need to buy food in certain places to ensure that they’re not poisoned by a population Russia is claiming to have ‘liberated’.
Voice of Ukraine 