"They lured the driver out by deception": Red Cross head accused police of sabotaging the evacuation from Kherson
According to the head of the Kherson rapid response unit, two families remained in the vehicle, including a three-year-old child and a bedridden cancer patient
August 14 during an evacuation run from Kherson the vehicle’s driver was taken to the territorial recruitment center after a stop at a mobile checkpoint near the settlement Shevchenkove. At that time there were two families in the car, including a three-year-old child, a severely injured man who had lost both legs, and a bedridden woman with an oncological disease.
Details of the incident were told to the public organization “Defense of the State. Mykolaiv” by the head of the Kherson rapid response unit of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, Mykola Taranenko. He said that the law enforcement officers, in his opinion, deceived and took the driver Oleksandr to the TRC.
That day the unit’s crew evacuated people from Kherson, which is regularly hit by Russian shelling and drone attacks. According to Taranenko, one of the families was particularly affected by the shelling: the mother was killed, the father suffered severe injuries and lost both legs. They were transporting his three-year-old child and grandmother with him to safer regions. The second family consisted of a bedridden woman with cancer and her son.
“There are a lot of evacuation requests right now because Kherson is constantly shelled. The city is literally being dismantled by KABs, FPV drones and ordinary drones. They hunt not only vehicles but also people. The number of people wishing to evacuate has increased,” — said Mykola Taranenko.
The evacuees were supposed to be delivered to safer regions and then handed over to other crews for further transport. The unit head claims that before each departure he personally checks the documents of crew members and their status in the “Reserve+” app. According to him, at 06:00 and 07:00 there were no problems in Oleksandr’s documents.
At about 07:20 one of the crew members called Taranenko and reported that after Shevchenkove a mobile checkpoint had stopped the car. The police checked the documents and, as the unit head says, found no violations. At the same time, the law enforcement officers did not like the driver’s appearance — they noticed his pallor and asked whether he had used drugs or alcohol.
Oleksandr denied using alcohol or any substances. After that they offered him to go with the police to take a blood test, assuring him that with a normal result he would be able to continue driving.
Taranenko asked the crew to stay in place and tried to speak by phone with the police officer. According to him, the officers did not hand over the receiver, so he asked to turn on speakerphone.
“Guys, please, excuse me, look at who we are transporting. You see the people, you see the child. What kind of problems can there be?”
In response, according to the unit head, they told him to come to the checkpoint and see everything himself. When Taranenko arrived in Shevchenkove, a police officer explained the detention by suspecting that the driver might have been using alcohol or drugs because of his pale complexion.
Later a police major approached Taranenko. He, as the unit head recounts, said that they would take a blood test from Oleksandr and if everything was fine they would return the driver and he would continue the trip. When reminded about the people in the evacuation vehicle, the major asked if there was anyone to replace the driver and drive the car to Mykolaiv.
The parties agreed that the crew would follow the law enforcement vehicle. However, Oleksandr was placed not in a police car but in a civilian car where two other people were already present. Taranenko wanted to put the driver’s crew member girl there as well, but by the time he returned the car had already left the checkpoint.
The unit head did not know exactly where the driver had been taken, so he set off after them. According to him, the civilian car was moving at a speed of about 130–140 km/h. The evacuation vehicle could not go that fast because there were people in it, and the crew was observing a speed limit — a maximum of 90 km/h. Later the car with the driver disappeared from the crew’s sight.
After finding out Oleksandr’s whereabouts, representatives of the unit went there. Security confirmed that the driver was on the premises, after which Taranenko asked them to call a representative of the TRC. According to him, Red Cross representatives were not allowed onto the premises.
After several unsuccessful attempts to get an explanation, Taranenko called 102. An investigative-operational group arrived on the scene, and the unit head filed a report. Later, he says, he learned that employees of the Bashtanka District Police Department and representatives of the Bashtanka District TRC were working at the mobile checkpoint.
Taranenko also called the head of the Bashtanka District Police Department and reported that the driver had been taken to the TRC where he was undergoing a military-medical commission. According to the unit head, the official replied that the situation would be investigated for violations. When reminded about the child who remained in the evacuation vehicle, he, Taranenko claims, said: “So what?”.
While Oleksandr was at the TRC, two families remained in the vehicle. Taranenko noted that he had no one to continue their route to Uman. At about 14:00 they were able to wait for another crew: its driver was moved to the evacuees, after which the trip continued.
“So my person was behind the wheel for more than 12 hours,” — said Mykola Taranenko.
He added that if TRC representatives had informed him in advance about the need to resolve the issue with the driver, it could have been done after the evacuation was completed.
“If they had told me there was a problem from the TRC, I would have said: no problem, write the summons, we will resolve all issues in Kherson — the MMC will take place. We were in the process of booking this Oleksandr,” — said the head of the Kherson rapid response unit of the URCS.
After the incident Taranenko turned to a representative of the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights. According to him, the ombudsman’s representative reported that they had already received more than 100 similar appeals regarding the Bashtanka police department.
The head of the Kherson rapid response unit of the URCS considers the event an abuse of power and called for an investigation into the actions of the law enforcement officers.
“The police officer used his authority; he tricked our driver and took him to the TRC. I very much want there to be no more such incidents,” — said Mykola Taranenko.
He also emphasized that the attitude toward people who carry out civilian evacuations cannot be like that.
“If we live in a rule-of-law state, this should not happen. If we live in a rule-of-law state, let’s obey all the laws. We are all equal before the law,” — Taranenko said.
Earlier the Mykolaiv Oblast Police reported the start of an official investigation into the actions of its employee. According to law enforcement, during the document check it turned out that the driver did not have a booking, after which he was delivered to the TRC.
The incident sparked wide discussion and criticism of the law enforcement actions on social media. The URCS stated that the situation creates additional risks for organizing the evacuation of people from Kherson through Mykolaiv region.
Previously we wrote:
