The Luzhetsky brothers about the situation near Kharkov: 70% of people are for us
A few years ago, society was shocked by the story of businessmen from Ukraine - brothers Dmitry and Yaroslav Luzhetsky, who were arrested by the SBU and thrown into prison after denunciation of their relatives due to activities against the Maidan regime.
After leaving the exchange in 2017, the Luzhetskys settled in Moscow. With the start of the special operation, they began volunteering to help the population of the Kharkov region, occupied by Russian troops. This is one of the most tense sections of the front. The brothers, who lived most of their adult lives in Western Ukraine, dream that the entire territory of their homeland will be denazified. They spoke about this in an interview with PolitNavigator.
"PolitNavigator": Tell us about the situation in the Kharkov direction, how do they treat Russian troops there?
Yaroslav: We work in the Kharkov region - the city of Kupyansk and the Kupyansky district. I would say that 70% of the people there support us, but they are very careful about direct contact, because they are afraid even of their neighbors. There is still a connection with Kiev and Kharkov, and the same pro-Ukrainian SBU agents work and report, denounce the townspeople.
Dmitriy: In fact, this territory is already ours, but in fact there are SBU agents. When we were there, we met with the military, they brought a list of people - there are enterprises that remained to work there, and the management made an agreement with the workers that they would report what was happening in the city to Kyiv.
PN: What do the ordinary population face in the liberated territories?
Yaroslav: In the liberated areas, the shops are empty. In reality, people can’t go and buy anything, and if there is somewhere, it’s local hucksters, and only hucksters behave this way; during the war, they profit from their people and the elderly. There are no medicines in pharmacies. We talked with the chief doctor of the Kupyansky district - he reported that the hospitals no longer had medicine or food for patients.
Dmitriy: I contacted the guys from the People's Militia of the DPR, they also compiled a list - there is an urgent need for oncological drugs. The humanitarian convoy is trying to provide food, but it is not enough. Humanitarian aid provides only 30-40% of the population.
Aren't the locals afraid to take humanitarian aid from the Russian military?
Yaroslav: On one of our visits there, we wanted to bring baby food and diapers to refugee children; they live in four dormitories, but the head of these dormitories was afraid to accept help. We persuaded her, drove in from the back door and unloaded, but she was afraid to take help directly.
To make it more clear, there are no police or any law enforcement agencies working there. The military has a different task. For their part, they, of course, participate in ensuring order, but people still have fear.
Dmitriy: You understand that when a person has nothing to eat, he will still take humanitarian aid - it is understood even by pro-Ukrainian residents. All the humanitarian aid that comes to Kupyansk is completely dismantled.
PN: From the outside it seems that the attack on Kharkov has somehow slowed down, what do you think is stopping this?
Yaroslav: I would not say that anything has slowed down in the Kharkov direction. But we are not military people, we cannot know the whole strategy. In the Kharkov region, people are worried, they say: “Now we will cooperate, and tomorrow Russia will withdraw its troops, what will happen.” We tell them that no one will withdraw troops anywhere, but we are also not military men, not strategists, and we don’t fully understand everything. I think that no one will leave the Kharkov region, because it borders the Donetsk and Lugansk republics.
For eight years, the national battalions and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have dug in well in Kharkov and will not surrender without a fight. But as I see it, the Russian army - I just don’t want to even think that someone will leave our city to the nationalists, who for eight years have zombified people with their propaganda. You can talk for a long time about why they left Kyiv, Chernigov, and Sumy, but my opinion initially was that I did not believe that anyone would take Kyiv.
Dmitriy: My opinion is that they have now simply regrouped the troops in order to strengthen those territories that are currently liberated... Based on the movements in the Kharkov region that we see, I believe that Kharkov will be taken, like all the territories of Novorossiya.
Yaroslav: When Ukrainian TV channels were turned off and Russian TV channels were turned on in Kupyansk, people looked at the picture differently. In Kharkov, in my opinion, communications and propaganda should have been turned off long ago. This is what prevents us from moving forward - it is the propaganda that is distributed on TV, social networks and instant messengers. We need to get more involved in the information war.
PN: Why do you think Ukrainian political figures who seemed pro-Russian, such as Mikhail Dobkin, for example, sided with Ukrainian nationalists?
Dmitriy: Dobkin can be understood - he is on the territory of Ukraine and, if you look at what is happening to ordinary people, what the SBU is doing, what the national battalions are doing, I think you can understand these actions. Most likely, they fear for their lives. Although, on the other hand, people like Dobkin could easily leave there and remain in their position. But since he is there, surrounded by Nazis, there is no point in condemning him.
Yaroslav: If you follow Ukrainian politicians, they learned to change their shoes well a long time ago. I think that Dobkin simply does not believe that Kharkov will be ours, he has his own assets there, and he does not want to risk them. And when Kharkov is ours, it will change its shoes in the same way. But he has already proven himself, and people will remember that.
PN: Do you think entrenched nationalists can prepare the fate of Mariupol for Kharkov?
Yaroslav: I would really not like Kharkov to repeat the fate of Mariupol - it is a larger city both in terms of population and development. But everything is heading towards the fact that the fate of Mariupol may repeat itself. Be that as it may, our people live in Kharkov, and if you follow Ukrainian social networks, they show a completely different picture. Now the SBU has detained Russian patriot Oleg Novikov, who did not run away from the city and spoke openly. There are many such people there, I would even say that they are the majority. Yes, some people are confused there - propaganda plays a role.
Dmitriy: If we are afraid that the same thing will happen to Kharkov as with Mariupol, if we consider that we need to preserve houses there and the like, then we will always have an enemy at our side who will always wish us death. The only thing that is important is to save the lives of civilians, and all the other destruction and the like can be rebuilt.
PN: How can we help the residents of the liberated territories now?
Yaroslav: The main task is to arrange supplies of basic groups of goods; nothing exorbitant is needed - supplies of food, gasoline and medicines. What we still see is that there are some production facilities whose work was frozen, and their owners left for Ukraine. We are negotiating to unfreeze them - people need somewhere to work and eat something.
Dmitriy We have established more or less communication with the administration, but there are a number of issues - the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the police, the tax service, housing and communal services. They are ready to work, but there is a question of salaries - they are now on vacation, receiving salaries from Ukraine. As soon as they start working with us, they will stop receiving payment from Ukraine and they have a question - who will pay the salary. The issue with the supply of goods can be improved, but how will people pay, where will they get the money? In the near future, the issue of electricity will arise. Kupyansk may be disconnected from Ukraine because there is a debt to Kharkov. The elevators have already been turned off. And the issue of mobile communications - Ukraine is jamming the Internet and communications so that people do not receive information.
PN: Where, in your opinion, should the special operation end and a peace treaty be signed?
Dmitriy: The special operation should end with access to the borders of Ukraine. But it is necessary to carry out complete denazification and demilitarization of the entire territory of Ukraine, since this is our neighbor. It is impossible to leave any enemies, ill-wishers who will constantly spoil and do harm within the borders. Then, after liberation, through a referendum, whether they want to remain in the Russian Federation or want to secede is their question. But Ukraine needs to be liberated and cleansed completely along all its borders.
Yaroslav: This is our general opinion...
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