Ukraine, governor Luhansk: “I target the Russians, forced to live in the woods”

“I am a target of the Russians. I cannot always stay in a single shelter, and for this I am forced to constantly change places, not to reveal where I am, to sleep in basements or in the woods”. To reveal it to Adnkronos, in an interview from a secret location in Ukraine, is the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai. “I have had confirmation of being the target of the Russians from various sources – he says, explaining that he has limited time available, also for this reason – There is information, both from the Ukrainian police and from articles published in the Russian media, which are in the sights of the of Kadyrov’s soldiers and those of the private company Wagner, who want to capture me “. Haidai explains that he is not the only governor in the sights of the Russian militias: “Any governor answers many questions, he has to make many decisions that depend on him, including evacuation, humanitarian aid. Neutralizing the governors brings many benefits to the enemy “. A life suspended on the edge of danger, that of the governor of Luhansk, to which, however, Haidai is used to. “The Luhansk region even before the war was under constant attacks – he remembers – and therefore it was always a lottery to be under attack, a mine, a grenade”. And he explains his relationship with the fear of him in his life between hiding places. “I have fear, I don’t know who doesn’t have it. But being a governor I don’t show it, I have to think about my people”, he says. In these moments “I have no superfluous emotions. My thoughts are on how to help civilians, those who managed to escape and those who managed to evacuate. In total there are three hundred thousand people in the Luhansk region.” these hours “is that Luhansk is almost all under Russian control, but in the suburbs and in some villages there are still fighting going on”. “In Kreminna (north-west of Severodonetsk, ed) – the governor says – the Russians shoot civilians in the street who have expressed pro-Ukrainian views. There have been Ukrainian partisans who have taken actions on Russian collaborators, and the Russians have decided to take revenge “, he explains, revealing the reasons. The governor of Luhansk stresses that the population is experiencing dramatic moments. “The main problem of the cities is that due to the war attacks all the critical infrastructure has been destroyed: water, electricity, gas, sewage, garbage disposal – says Haidai – As soon as they enter the winter season I can’t even imagine what will happen, even because 70% of the houses have been critically damaged. We cannot evacuate anyone because the Russians do not give us a ceasefire. ” In theory, civilians could evacuate via Russia to Georgia, “but it’s only a theoretical and very dangerous possibility,” he adds.