“The ‘administrative offices’, the ‘prosecutors’, the occupiers and the Gauleiter are leaving,’ Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Heidai wrote on Telegram. “The Ukrainian flag, which our rebels raised last night over the administration building in Kreminna, remains intact as the Russians now seem to have taken over everything and so do not dare to take it down. The Russians and their collaborators are leaving the Luhansk region, heading for Russia.” Luhansk forms the Donbas region with Donetsk to the south. Ukrainian forces continued to practice their counterattack in Kharkiv, taking control of almost the entire province. Russia has launched dozens of air and missile strikes on power plants and other sites in apparent retaliation for Kiev’s success. Fearing reprisals, Ukrainian citizens who cooperated with the Russians are “packing their loot, gathering their families and leaving,” said Haidai, who backed up his claim by posting footage of cars queuing at checkpoints in the towns of Stanytsia Luhanska and Shchastia. . An indirect confirmation of the collaborators’ flight came from Russian propagandists, one of whom wrote on Telegram: “People who trusted us are escaping from the reprisals of the Kiev regime. They trusted us and have nowhere to go yet. They need tents, heating points, internet access points to contact their relatives, food and water and just help and support.” The Guardian was unable to independently verify the claims. According to a man who fled east with his wife from Russian-occupied territories, long lines of vehicles have formed at border crossings with Russia. The man, who is not his partner, said he was fleeing with hundreds of others because they feared they would be caught up in the fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces. In the city of Kharkiv, the police attempt to arrest citizens accused of collaborating with the enemy. Ukrainian prosecutors said in early May that there were more than 700 treason cases opened against Ukrainian citizens and another 700 cooperation cases. In Kharkiv province alone, prosecutors said they had opened 50 cases, including against seven police officers, five mayors and a judge. All are accused of paving the way for Moscow to seize villages and kill dozens of people during the Russian advance in the province. Some people who had fled to the city of Kharkiv from towns elsewhere in the province said that when the Russians arrived they brought lists of locals who had been in the Ukrainian army, relatives of soldiers and veterans of the 2014 war. According to accounts from people in Kharkiv, the Russians allegedly kidnapped these people and took them to unknown locations and have not been spoken to since.
