Russian forces disperse Ukrainian protesters with stun grenades, gunfire

KYIV -- Russian troops' attempts to intimidate residents of occupied Kherson, Ukraine, are not working.

On Tuesday (March 22), uncowed Ukrainians returned to the streets to protest the occupation of their city. Russian forces fired tear gas to disperse them, but some demonstrators resumed the protest afterward, Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko tweeted, posting video of the incident.

The Tuesday demonstration came even after Russian forces used stun grenades and gunfire to disperse unarmed protesters in Kherson Monday, which Ukrainian officials noted Tuesday.

"Russian security forces ran up, started throwing stun grenades into the crowd and shooting," the Ukrainian armed forces' press office said in a statement.

"Occupiers shot at people who went out peacefully, without weapons, to protest. For freedom -- our freedom," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, leading the condemnation.

A series of videos posted on social media and the messaging app Telegram showed citizens gathering in Kherson's Freedom Square on Monday, protesting Russia's recent seizure of the city.

Dozens of men and women wrapped in Ukraine's blue-and-yellow flag are heard chanting "Go home" and "Glory to Ukraine" before stun grenades force them to flee in panic.

Russian soldiers can be seen firing multiple volleys of gunfire into the air, with no immediate evidence their rifles were trained directly at civilians.

But video footage showed a group of people treating a stunned and bleeding elderly man, before carrying him away.

The man's leg was "badly injured" and he "lost a lot of blood", said local official Yuriy Sobolevsky.

Medics are treating the wounded and "their lives are not in danger", he added.

Russian troops invaded Ukraine February 24. They took control of Kherson March 2 but have been largely stalled nationwide.

'The ugly face of Russia'

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted a video of the incident on Twitter.

"In Kherson, Russian war criminals opened fire at unarmed people who peacefully protested against invaders," he wrote.

"This is the ugly face of Russia, a disgrace to humankind. We must stop Russia! Sanction them, isolate them, hold war criminals to account."

Kherson, a city of almost 300,000 people before the war, was the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces, with Moscow capturing it within the first week of its invasion.

Residents of Kherson have held regular demonstrations against Russian control of the city, a direct challenge to Russia's claim to have liberated the city.

Russian forces have fired at protesters, local media have reported several times.

On Sunday, protesters in Kherson's city centre appeared to make two trucks marked with the letter "Z" -- a symbol of support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- reverse away from the area, by standing in front of them and chanting, "Go home", the BBC reported.

Russia's National Guard earlier this month detained about 400 people in Kherson for protesting against the occupation of the city, according to Ukrainian authorities. They accused Russia of trying to create a police state.

The demonstrations will continue, vowed Sobolevsky.

"Despite everything, the protesters did not disperse! And tomorrow they are going to gather again!" he said, making a prediction that Kherson residents proved true on Tuesday.