During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting Russian occupation of towns and cities in Ukraine, a number of incidences of non-violent resistance by the civilian population against the occupation took place. Local residents organised protests against the Russian invasion and blocked the movement of Russian military equipment, in response to which the Russian military opened warning fire and, according to local residents, killed and wounded several protesters, in what may be considered a war crime.
Anti-occupation protests in Berdyansk, 28 February
On 25 February the city of Konotop was surrounded by Russian troops. On 2 March, at a gathering of city residents, the city's mayor Artyom Semenikhin said that the Russian military was threatening to shell the city in case of disobedience, and offered to resist. His proposal was met with a standing ovation by gathered crowds.[1]
On 1 March in Melitopol, local residents organized a protest rally during which they marched along the avenue from Victory Square to the SBU building, occupied by the Russian military. According to the local online publication Our City, "unable to withstand the pressure [outside the building], Russian soldiers opened fire, first in the air, and then on the townspeople" and "one person received a gunshot wound to the knee".[2][3] According to the BBC News Ukrainian Service, local residents organized a peaceful protest of many thousands under Ukrainian flags, and also accused Russian soldiers of shelling and looting shops.[4] As of 10 March, processions through the city centre of Melitopol are being repeated on a daily basis.[5][6]
On 2 March, near the village of Vodyanoye in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, local residents blocked the road for Russian troops. Negotiations were held between the mayor of Vodyanoye and the mayor of the neighbouring village of Kamenka with a representative of the Russian side, who proposed that if the military convoy was allowed to pass through the settlement to its destination then no one would be hurt; residents refused this suggestion. According to the mayor of nearby Enerhodar, at around 15:30 local time, Russian troops opened fire on the protesters, injuring two of them.[7]
On 4 March, after the occupation of Novopskov in the Luhansk Oblast by Russian troops, local residents went to a protest under Ukrainian flags. According to Ukrayinska Pravda, citing local residents, one person was injured as a result of shooting at protesters in Novopskov.[8] On 5 March, the local population again protested against the Russian occupation and warning fire was again opened on them; according to the head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, Sergei Gaidai, three local residents were injured on this occasion.[9][10]
On 5 March, residents of Kherson went to a rally with Ukrainian flags and chanted that the city is still Ukrainian and will never be Russian, despite Russian occupation. The Russian military opened warning fire against the protesters. At the same time, the National Police of Ukraine published a video where a Kherson police officer, holding a Ukrainian flag in his hands, jumped onto a Russian armored personnel carrier that was driving past the rally, and local residents supported his action with shouts and applause.[11]
On 7 March, the Kherson Regional Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine, on the basis of Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war, associated with premeditated murder), opened a criminal case into the death of several protesters in Nova Kakhovka. According to the investigation, during a rally on 6 March, the Russian military opened fire on protesters indiscriminately "despite the fact that people were unarmed and did not pose any threat," resulting in at least one death and seven injuries.[12]
