The Star: May 19, 2022

• By Damien Venuto
A CHRISTCHURCH-raised
journalist filming a documentary
in Ukraine believes the
Ukrainian people will never
accept a settlement that sees
territory handed over to Russia,
as a result of the atrocities the
invading forces have inflicted on
the people.
Tom Mutch has been reporting
in Ukraine since before Russia
invaded at the end of February,
and is currently reporting out
of Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk
Oblast near where much of the
fighting is happening on the
Ukraine-Russia border.
Mutch, who went to Burnside
High School, said that while
the town he is currently in has
avoided much of the conflict,
one he passed through – Malaya
Rohan, 15 minutes from Kharkiv
– has experienced the brutality of
Russia.
“The town was under Russian
occupation for roundabout five
weeks. And they said that for
instance, some of the Russian
troops got drunk and they raped
a young woman in the area.
Another one shot and killed one
of the villagers, again, drunkenly.
One of the women said that
the Russian officers would take
potshots at her for fun late at
night and stuff like that,” he
said.
Mutch said the Ukrainians
have reacted with “revulsion
and horror” at each new report
of these atrocities – and it will
make it very difficult for them to
accept a deal that involves giving
up territory.
“Maybe in the past you might
be able to sell something like:
‘We have to like give up a certain
piece of territory so that the rest
of the country is sort of saved’.
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
“But now that we seem to
know what goes on in the areas
that Russia controls, people
would effectively see their country
folk being left to their deaths
more than anything.”
The atrocities are helping
further the Ukrainian resistance,
with more people signing up for
the military then there are guns
to provide. Military service was
compulsory prior to the invasion,
and Mutch said one recruitment
officer told him that people
would try to bribe them to get
out of the service.
“Now people are so desperate
to join up and fight that they’re
trying to bribe recruitment
officers to let them join the fight,
let them go to the frontline.”
He said everyone he has come
across all resent the Russians,
and that people are united in one
goal – forcing them out of the
country.
Their morale is aided by the
fact that the Russian armies
Thursday May 19 2022 The Star
NEWS 15
Russia will never be able to break Ukraine’s
spirit, says former Christchurch war journalist
WAR ZONE:
Tom Mutch
has been on
the ground in
Ukraine since
the early
days of the
fighting.
are struggling to make any
gains. While Mariupol has
been devastated by the invasion
– “wiped off the map” is how
Mutch described it – Russia
notably failed to take the
capital city of Kyiv, and is now
struggling in the Donbas region
where most of their firepower is
targeted.
– NZ Herald
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