A CNN team that visited the newly liberated southern Ukrainian town of Snihurivka on Friday witnessed the excitement of its people at being liberated from Russian occupation.
The CNN team described a party atmosphere in the town, with residents greeting each other with hugs in the streets.
CNN’s Nic Robertson reports: “When you drive into town here, everyone is waving, everyone is happy.
But residents have “horror stories” to tell about their treatment of Russians – especially from the past few days.
Snihurivka, in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine, is located on one of the main roads leading to the city of Kherson, in the neighboring Kherson region. It was confirmed on Thursday morning to have been liberated by Ukrainian forces.
A large crowd had gathered in the central square. Some residents donned Ukrainian flags. Others shed tears as they recall the ordeal of the Russian occupation.
A month ago, someone was shot for raising the Ukrainian flag, the teenagers told CNN’s Nic Robertson.
“The situation here is really tough – no electricity, no gas,” Robertson reports.
Reports of looting and torture: Residents described widespread looting by the Russian military, and the CNN team saw a local bank ransacked.
“What’s happened in this town in the last few days is that the Russians know they’re going to withdraw, there’s widespread looting, vehicles are looted, we’ve been to the bank here – it’s completely ransacked. and looting,” Robertson reported.
“We said the police station here was used as a torture base,” he added.
A 15-year-old girl told Robertson that in the final days when the Russians arrived in the area, she was taken away with a hood over her head, and spent her days in fear of being raped. She was released yesterday, he reported.
He added: “This is a town that is just beginning to understand the idea of liberation, what it means to be free, there is no Russian rule here.
