"People were interrogated for pro-Ukrainian rallies" - journalist Oleh Baturyn

"I don't want the Russians to influence my decision to anchor here," says Oleh Baturyn, a journalist from Kakhovka. Together with him, we discussed life in the frontline and occupied territory of Kherson region, detention by Russians, and war crimes. Watch and read the interview on Intent about loyalty, home, Kherson region, cooperation and life under occupation.

Nowadays, you work more in the Kherson region and write about war crimes. Tell us, is this documenting or reporting? How does it work?

I have been working in the Kherson region for over 25 years. I am from the Kherson region, from the city of Kakhovka, which is still under occupation. And I really write about war crimes, focusing on the South of Ukraine, mainly the Kherson region. I worked for many years as a regional journalist in several districts of the Kherson region. Now I try to cover the life of the liberated areas and communities that suffer from constant shelling, as well as those communities that are still under occupation.

Can we tell you how people in Kherson region feel?

There is no definite answer to this question, because we need to understand that Kherson region is actually divided into several conditional territories based on security. That is, the first part is the occupied territory of the Kherson region - the entire left-bank part. The second is the globally liberated part, but it is divided into two. The first one is the communities that suffer from shelling, those that are closer to the contact line, and those that are a little further away - a rather calm situation. It's hard to say this with 100% certainty, but compared to other parts of the Kherson region and even Odesa, people feel relatively safe. Life is really a little bit in full swing there, to the extent that it is possible. From other regions of Ukraine, it may seem that the whole Kherson region is a disaster, a terrible danger. But people feel relatively calm. When I come there, I even recharge my batteries a little bit with this calm. Yes, it's all deceptive, because it can happen there just as easily as in Kyiv or Odesa. Parts of the liberated right-bank Kherson region are still under fire. People have different attitudes to this. I didn't want us to get used to such circumstances, but we are getting used to it. The situation is different in those settlements that are as close to the contact line as possible - it is very dangerous. People there have been living without electricity and almost no water for more than two years. It is possible to bring in some humanitarian supplies, but not everywhere. So people stay there at their own risk. There are cases when people refuse to leave because they will not leave their broken house, even if it is broken.

The left-bank Kherson region and the occupied part can also be divided into conditional zones. The civilians who remain there feel relatively safe, as they have somehow gotten used to the circumstances of life under occupation. Those regions that are closer to the contact line are in a more dangerous situation. There are settlements that are compared to Chernobyl. For example, the city of Nova Kakhovka, which is the second largest in terms of population in the Kherson region, is almost empty and just eerie. Even the video evokes an eerie state. The city of Kakhovka, where I come from, has now become the conditional economic center of this region, because markets are more or less working there. Previously, Nova Kakhovka was such a center, but now people from the surrounding communities come to Kakhovka to buy something for themselves.

Photo: Intent

You were detained in March 2022, on the day you were going to meet Serhiy Tsyhypa. We talked to Serhiy's wife. He is still detained by the Russians and has even been convicted. In your opinion, why is he so important to them, or do they fundamentally not want to let him go?

I can make some assumptions about this, because even a Russian cannot explain what is in the mind of a Russian. I think that the case of Serhiy Tsygipa can be explained by several things. First, when I was captured, held, and interrogated in the Kherson regional administration, I noticed that the Russians had the cell phones of the detainees. When the Russians grabbed me, they were very angry because I had neither my phone nor my passport with me. It so happened that I was without a phone at the time. I think they might have found something in the phone that they didn't like. And it might not even have been something that could have been deleted from the phone. I think that this could have played such a dramatic role in the fate of Sergei and other prisoners. Second, Serhiy has a much different background than I do. He was an ATO veteran and a member of the special services. And this is, in principle, open information, well known. Perhaps they were trying to take revenge on him in this way. Everything else is speculation, I don't want to say.

Back then, in March 2022, as I still think, and I'm talking about this based on many other testimonies of people who were also held captive by the Russians at that time. There was still some chaos, they were just starting this flywheel of terror in the Kherson region. And as far as I felt at the time, it may not be entirely correct to talk about this globally, but they were primarily interested in ATO participants, law enforcement officers, and the military. Of course, they were interested in activists, because they were very angry about these pro-Ukrainian rallies. I think it was the pro-Ukrainian rallies that became the hook for them to start taking an interest in activists. When I was captured, I heard the Russians interrogating people who participated in a pro-Ukrainian rally in Nova Kakhovka. They were questioned and tortured for the rally. We do not know how Serhiy was interrogated. If I was contacted through Serhiy's phone, it is obvious that they could have grabbed not only me in this way. Here I have no questions for Sergei, because it happened. I can only be happy that it happened to me.

Photo: Intent

It seems to me that we have started to talk much less about the South, for example, about the shelling of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. Do you see enough of these topics in the media?

On the one hand, there are news articles about the shelling. They come out quite quickly, every day, unfortunately. The other thing is whether the audience sees it, because these are mostly some regional media or official pages of the authorities. So I wouldn't say that it is not written about at all. Moreover, it is often covered quite well. The other thing is that very often people who, for example, suffer from shelling, from the actions of the Russians in the conventional village of Lviv, would like more context about what is happening there. I don't think we should definitely blame journalists for this. For various reasons, some settlements remain out of the media's attention. There are places that cannot be reached because it is very dangerous. Although a lot of people, of course, have left and they could be a source of this information. For various reasons, people don't want to talk about it or prefer to remain anonymous sources. And this is the point where I would really like to see more.

When I talk to my colleagues, we often say that we would like to work even more in our region, to cover more. But, unfortunately, we lack the strength, sometimes just the opportunities. I would even like to expand our domestic geography. And this is actually my pain too. I really hope that the situation will change, that we will be able to visit some localities and see with our own eyes what is happening there.

On the other hand, when there is very heavy shelling of Kyiv, Odesa, Dnipro, it is understandable why at some point the attention is switched to these events, because they are happening here and now, and this is of course If there are opportunities for some media to write about the South, I would talk about our South in a broader context, because Mykolaiv region is also suffering. In fact, we know very little about what happened there. There are many topics that are still waiting to be covered. And it is very difficult for journalists to have opportunities now because of finances.

Марія Литянська