Kherson region is partly under temporary Russian occupation. On April 27, the invaders appointed a pseudo-referendum on the creation of the so-called Kherson People's Republic (based on the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics). Residents of Ukraine went to a peaceful rally against Russia's illegal actions to show their clear Ukrainian position and rejection of Russia's actions. However, firearms, tear gas grenades, and stun bombs began to be used against Ukrainians.
As of 1 p. m., 4 victims are known: a man with an open leg fracture, a woman with burns and rupture of the lungs, and 2 people with burns to the eyes and nasopharynx. The city emergency hospital reported this. The data is not final and will be supplemented as new information about the victims of the actions of the invaders against the Ukrainians becomes available.
Ukraine has told Russia that it will withdraw from the peace talks if Russia dares to hold an illegal referendum in Kherson. However, Russia falsely claimed that “it knows nothing about the planned referendum.” The illegal pseudo-referendum was scheduled for May 10 but was postponed to April 27. The occupiers had not only no legal basis for a referendum but also no physical opportunity to hold it: the lack of support and even premises for a referendum. The invaders planned to forcibly take out all the foreigners of their city and mount a false video for the Russian media. However, the peaceful rally of Ukrainians crossed out the invaders' plans and destroyed the possibility of creating a “picture” of the well-being of the invaders in Kherson.
“The occupiers have no election commissions, no polling stations, no voter lists, nothing. What they can do is put a box somewhere in the central square and take a picture, maybe partly with those who come for another dose of humanitarian aid or "artists" brought from Crimea," political scientist Volodymyr Molchanov about the pseudo-referendum.
The Security Service of Ukraine confirms the facts of the forced deportation of foreigners from Kherson. The occupiers evacuated citizens of other countries from Kherson, as they would become independent witnesses to yet another Russian war crime.
It is also reported that today, at the entrance to the region, the invaders dismantled a stele with the coat of arms of Ukraine — Trizub.
