Panicked Russian troops open fire as protesters refuse to accept occupation – VIDEO
Thousands of protesting Ukrainians panic Russian forces
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Russian soldiers struggled to hold off hundreds of protesting Ukrainians in the city of Slavutych, in the north of Ukraine. Earlier this morning it emerged that Russian forces and tanks had swept into the city, seized the local hospital and kidnapped the city’s mayor. This prompted an almost immediate protest from locals as footage online showed what appears to be hundreds of Ukrainian civilians marching to confront the Russian soldiers.
Slavutych was built for the evacuated personnel of the Chernobyl plant after the 1986 disaster – the world’s worst-ever nuclear accident.
Russian forces seized Chernobyl itself right at the start of the conflict.
Videos shared online show panicked Russian soldiers firing into the air and throwing stun grenades as they struggle to control the protesters.
However, the protesters do not appear to back down despite the Russian firepower and repeated attempts to disperse the crowds.
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Another video shows residents repeatedly chanting “Go home!” as they approach armed Russian forces and tanks.
In one video, furious Ukrainians can be seen telling the Russian occupation forces to leave the city as they point the direction out of the city.
The head of the Kyiv regional administration Oleksandr Pavlyuk posted on Telegram: “The Russian occupiers invaded the town of Slavutych and seized the town’s hospital.
“Residents of the town came to a pro-Ukrainian rally with national symbols. They gathered on the main square and chanted “Slavutych is Ukraine”, “Glory to Ukraine”.
“A large state flag was unfurled. The invaders opened fire. They threw stun grenades into the crowd.”
One Ukraine analyst Alex Kokcharov confirmed this, tweeting: “In #Slavutych, #Kyiv region, north #Ukraine, #Russian occupiers are using stun grenades to disperse the #protest rally in support of Ukraine and against the Russian invaders.”
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell also tweeted: “Large crowd of local people protesting the arrival of Russian troops in the Ukrainian city of Slavutych, near Chernobyl where many workers from the nuclear plant live.
“Russian troops reportedly opened fire and used stun grenades to try to disperse that protest in Slavutych. Reports of injured.”
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The overwhelmed Russian forces were later forced to release the kidnapped mayor Yuri Fomichev, who spoke with the crowd of protesters.
One geopolitical expert Giorgi Revishvili tweeted: “Again #Slavutych. The spirit of valiant #Ukrainian people was one of the biggest miscalculations of #Russian military planning.
“Russia believed people would just welcome them, but in reality Ukrainians fearlessly protesting in every temporary controlled city against Russian invaders.”
An adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister Markian Lubkivskyi told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that Kyiv’s forces could seize back Kherson, the first major city that Russian forces seized.
He said “I believe that today the city will be fully under the control of Ukrainian armed forces.
“We have finished in the last two days the operation in the Kyiv region so other armed forces are now focused on the southern part trying to get free Kherson and some other Ukrainian cities.”
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