18-year-old son would be conscripted after the sham vote. the first time we tried to leave, they shot at us a second time. we got out, she says. we are completely occupied, she says. there is no food, no money, we have nothing. they ll do a referendum and take our children. my son is 18 and they ll take him as cattle fodder. we ran as fast as we could. it is jarring among the generosity of donations and offers of new homes to hear of the casual brutality of the occupiers. mihael was tortured for days in a basement after russian troops mistook his rough builders hands as a sign he s been a soldier. pulled pulled out a gun, saw it was cocked, two shots, hit the concrete wall, i think it was a starting pistol. two other men then came in, they were drunk, one must have been a
hands as a sign he d been a soldier. one got out a gun, a real one, he says. i saw it was cocked. two shots. they hit the concrete wall. i think it was a starting pistol. two other men came in and talked less. they were drunk. one must have been a boxer as he meat me in the same place, on my ribs, breaking six of them, rupturing a lung. broken in parts here, but even as russia closes in, still breathing. and nick paton walsh joins us now along with clarissa ward and matt rivers. nick, you can sense, obviously, the desperation in all the people that you spoke to in that piece. can you just kind of describe the intensity of this new phase of the war in the area that you re in? reporter: yeah, i think it s frankly something that hasn t really been on peoples radar. it is extraordinary to think
leave, they shot at us. the second time, we got out, she says. we are completely occupied, she says. there is no food, no money. we have nothing. they will do a referendum and take our children. my son is 18 and they will take him. we ran as fast as we could. it is jarring among the generosity of donations and offers of new homes to hear of the casual brutality of the occupiers. this man tortured for days in a basement after russian troops mistook his rough builder s hands as a sign he d been a soldier. one got out a gun, a real one he says, i saw it was cocked. two shots, they hit the concrete wall. i think it was a starting pistol. two other men then came in and talk less, they are drunk. one must have been a boxer as he beat me in the same place on my ribs, breaking six of them, ,
builders hands as a sign he had been a soldier. one got out a gun a real one he says, i saw it was cocked. two shots, they hit the concrete wall. i think it was a starting pistol. two other men then came in and talked less, they were drunk, one must have been a boxer as he beat me in the same place on my ribs, breaking six of them, rupturing a lung. broken in parts here, but even as russia closes in still breathing. now, is there a referendum happening in kherson, the first city taken by the russians at the beginning of the war? at this point it seems pretty unlikely. we re speaking to people there and the consistent message has been, yes, they thought there was going to be one today in which russian troops would essentially ask people in a sham vote to declare they wanted to be closer to russian kind of
occupiers. mikhail was tortured for days in a basement after russian troops mistook his rough builder s hands as a sign he d been a soldier. one got out a gun, a real one, he says. i saw it was cocked. two shots. they hit the concrete wall. i think it was a starting pistol. two other men then came in and talked less. they were drunk. one must have been a boxer as he beat me in the same place on my ribs, breaking six of them, rupturing a lung. broken in parts here but even as russia closes in still breathing. wolf, it is unclear at this stage if that referendum you heard about that the russians want to hold essentially a sham in their occupied city of kherson will in fact go ahead tomorrow. there are suggestions maybe a rush appointment by the russian