National Resistance Center: Residents forced back into evacuated front-line settlements.

Russian authorities in occupied regions of Ukraine are forcing residents to return to previously evacuated settlements on the front line, the National Resistance Center reported[1] on Aug.

25. The Center said that Ukrainians who had earlier been deported[2] to Berdiansk due to heavy fighting were being sent back to front-line homes in Tokmak and Vasylivka. People living in these communities are essentially "human shields," the Center said.

According to the report, Russian authorities are also planning to open schools on the front. Along with the danger posed to schoolchildren due to intense fighting in the area, Russian troops may use schools as makeshift military bases. The official explanation for military presence in schools is to provide additional security for students.

"However, in reality, the vacant floors are used by combat units of the Russian Armed Forces," the Center said. Russian-installed proxies in the occupied regions have conducted forced evacuation[3] campaigns as part of their efforts to depopulate Ukrainian territory and pressure residents to take Russian passports. By the same token, occupying authorities prevented[4] evacuation from areas flooded after the destruction[5] of the Kakhovka Dam.

Kyiv, Moscow's opposing attitudes toward Soviet past shape two different futures

For Kyiv's Motherland monument, 2023 marks an era of rebirth. In late July, the national landmark saw the Soviet hammer and sickle that once adorned its shield replaced with the tryzub, the Ukrainian trident. The rejuvenated monument was officially unveiled on Aug.

24, Ukrainian Independence Day....

[6] Abbey Fenbert

News Editor

Abbey Fenbert is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. She is a freelance writer, editor, and playwright with an MFA from Boston University. Abbey served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ukraine from 2008-2011.

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References

1. ^ reported (sprotyv.mod.gov.ua)
2. ^ deported (kyivindependent.com)
3. ^ forced evacuation (kyivindependent.com)
4. ^ prevented (kyivindependent.com)
5. ^ destruction (kyivindependent.com)
6. ^ Kyiv, Moscow's opposing attitudes toward Soviet past shape two different futuresFor Kyiv's Motherland monument, 2023 marks an era of rebirth. In late July, the national landmark saw the Soviet hammer and sickle that once adorned its shield replaced with the tryzub, the Ukrainian trident.

   The rejuvenated monument was officially unveiled on Aug.

   24, Ukrainian Independence Day.... (kyivindependent.com)