Svet, 16, Kherson on the Black Sea
Interview: Natalija Yefimkina, 03/22
“The thing about Kherson is that on the second day of the war, fighting already started here. In the surrounding countryside there were Russian soldiers fighting for the main bridge leading directly to the city.
When the bridge could no longer be defended, all Ukrainian forces were withdrawn. The police, the organs of the domestic intelligence service SBU, not even the territorial defense could be deployed, nothing could stop the advance of the Russian soldiers into the city of Kherson.
My name is Sviatoslav and I am 16 years old. I am a student and I went to school as long as I could – that is until the present events.
For 13 years I have been living with my brother and my grandmother with my father.
My father is 41 and a journalist, he is an activist and fights for the interests of Ukraine, that is, for reforms and further development. When the occupation of the city began, he actively took part in the rallies against the occupiers.
And today something happened that I am 100% sure is connected with this: the following happened, now it is very difficult for me to tell about it, but … my father was attacked when he was already on his way back from one of these rallies, … a car drove up and four people pulled him into it and drove away, I don’t know where.
Since it happened, he hasn’t been on Facebook, he’s not answering his phone.
Honestly, it’s terrible. I feel very bad.”