Zaporizhzhia Threats, total propaganda and distortion of the factual situation. Those are the means that Russia has Viktor Dudukalov used in the presidential elections in the territories it occupied in Ukraine.
Dudukalov worked in his hometown of Berdyansk as a deputy director of the local administration. He started volunteering in an organization helping the people of Berdyansk after fleeing the Russians to Zaporizhzhia.
In Russia, the three-day voting in the presidential election starts tomorrow, Friday, but in the occupied parts of the Zaporizhia region, Russia already started early voting on February 25.
– Russia wants to show that there is so much support for Putin in the occupied territories that it would not even be possible, Dudukalov explains.
He has an explanation for why early voting started in the Zaporizhia region first of all the occupied parts of Ukraine.
– The Zaporizhia region has the least amount of war damage, which is essential for the TV picture. It would have been challenging to photograph something in Mariupol or Bahmut, which have been badly destroyed in the battles.
The three stages of election preparation
The presidential elections are the second elections that Russia is holding in the territories it occupies in Ukraine, after the territories were annexed to Russia after “referendums”. In September of last year, “local elections” were held in the regions.
Dudukalov says that Russia prepared the occupied territories for the elections in three stages.
– First there was an incredible amount of propaganda. Almost everywhere in Berdyansk you could see Russian flags, election ads and quotes from Putin’s speeches.
The second step was collecting supporter cards. Putin ran as an independent candidate and needed 300,000 signatures to run.
The third step was the election officials going around the homes, says Dudukalov. People were asked if they were going to vote, and then the officials explained where and how the vote would take place.
– According to my information, people were told that you can vote with a Russian passport, if you have one. You can also vote without a passport or with a Ukrainian passport.
Dudukalov says that he has received messages from the occupied territories, based on which he is opening early voting.
Communication like spies
The Russian elections are being watched in Zaporizhzhia, but not because of the result, but because they may pose a threat to relatives living in the occupied territory.
– Elections can be a way to check documents, find out unreliable people, and also a way to find vacant apartments that can be taken over, Dudukalov says.
The volunteers of the Berdjanski organization have loved ones behind the front. The relatives of the employees of the organization that helps the armed forces of Ukraine have already faced difficulties. That’s why the volunteers don’t want their names made public.
All information about what is happening in the occupied territories comes from Ukrainians living there or from intelligence sources. Independent journalists cannot move freely in the occupied territories, so it is impossible to verify the claims. However, the same things are repeated in numerous stories.
According to Dudukalov, messaging sometimes resembles a spy movie.
– The people who live there know all the precautions better than we do. Internet search history and log data must be deleted, and some contact information must not be stored in the phone’s memory at all. The connection to the territory administered by Ukraine should be made with a separate phone.
Volunteer of the organization Kseniya adds that not all messaging apps are safe to use. He doesn’t trust Telegram, but rather uses Signal, Threema or Zang. The latter, for example, does not require a phone number for registration.
– Many have been surprised when the Russians have been able to find deleted message threads even from applications deleted from the phone, Dudukalov continues.
To the ballot box in front of the escape
According to estimates, about 20 percent of the residents have stayed in Berdjanski. Another occupied city, Enerhodar, also has less than a fifth of its pre-war population. This is what the mayor says Dmytro Orlovwho also lives in Zaporizhia today.
In the first year of the war, he was able to manage the city’s affairs remotely and coordinate the delivery of humanitarian aid to Enerhodar. Later, however, the occupation administration cut off these possibilities.
Today, Orlov helps the citizens of Enerhodar who fled to Zaporizhia and advises those who stayed in the city.
– Recently, I have been approached about election issues. Trustees visit homes. There have been cases where armed people have forced people to vote.
Orlov also says that he receives messages from Ukrainians who stayed in the city.
In an interview with the Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspile, Orlov said that on February 25, the Ukrainian armed forces attacked an election office, but he did not want to comment on the incident to . There has been no information about the case in public sources.
Instead, the media has reported on cases related to attempts to disrupt Russian elections in the occupied territories.
For example, on February 27, unknown persons blew up Putin’s campaign office Nova Kahovka in the Kherson region. in Berdyansk was blown up On March 6, a car in which a member of the election board was sitting. The woman later died of her injuries in hospital.
Ukraine considers the Russian elections illegal
The leadership of Ukraine has repeatedly said publicly that holding Russian presidential elections in the occupied territories is against the law. The matter is also confirmed by the head of the Zaporizhia region Ivan Fedorov.
– These elections do not meet any rules, any standards, any requirements of the democratic world. It is an illegal farce that takes place in the occupied territories.
The administration of the Zaporizhzhia region monitors matters related to the elections together with the Security Service of Ukraine.
– We are monitoring which rights of our citizens have been violated or who is helping the enemy in organizing these elections. But we have to separate the organizers and the voters. Those forced to the ballot box are not criminally responsible in Ukraine.
Fedorov says that residents of the occupied territories are asking how to avoid voting and whether voting will have consequences in Ukraine after the liberation of the territory.
– We have only one piece of advice: the most important thing in an occupation is to preserve one’s life and health. It is not worth resisting, but waiting for the Ukrainian armed forces and liberation.