Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February. Some Ukrainians
got tattoos to show support for their country. But as the war drags
on, those patriotic symbols have become a liability. Special correspondent
Simon Ostrovsky reports.
Marchenko is a customer support agent for bank in Ukraine.
Russian forces swept through her hometown of her son five months
ago. She wanted to show her support for her country
just wanted something that said, I'm Ukrainian, and I'm proud of
that. On my body housemate. Avi was a tattoo artist. So all her asked
her to ink the word Ukrainian on her chest.
She wasn't the only one in the initial weeks of the Russian occupation
of her city. Alina, who's since relocated to Germany did dozens of
Ukraine themed tattoos for locals inspired by the war
was to charity.
Person Guatemalan on the hand of my friend to to with Sunflower Because
power is one of the simple of corrosion. It was to choose about crap.
Russia's full scale invasion of Ukraine five months ago awakened
a sense of patriotism in pride in many Ukrainians, stirring some
to commemorate those sentiments permanently in ink.
Lot of people came to get specifically patriotic tattoos. Some would
get ears of wheat. Some would get maps of Ukraine. Some would get
the colors of the Ukrainian flag. There were a lot of different things
that
you even got a second tattoo on her wrist. The word home with the
letter O made out in the shape of her homeland, Ukraine.
We thought it would be over in a month to Max. We wanted to remember
that moment The emotions were so positive. It was like a gulp of
normal.
Life during occupation.
I hope that the Russians would leave quickly began to fade.
And all her realized that her new tattoos we're putting her in danger
to go to the store. You go out for five or six hours. Not one spent
the whole time in long lines and the whole time you're thinking,
Lord, I hope nothing is showing or sticking out so they don't stop
being searched me.
Valerius. So Lynette's as a tattoo artist who is also from Kherson.
She described hiding at home with her parents has Russian soldiers
raided the apartment of her neighbor, Ukrainian border guard.
When you sleep.
They took out the computer processor and, of course, the household
appliances. They had an electric cooker and microwave. Obviously,
we saw them stealing the appliances with our own eyes.
But for some people tattoos had become a liability Mark. They wanted
to get rid of Valeria received an unusual request from a client.
He was afraid to talk about it on the phone. He just said I need
a not good tattoo covered up. Were you surprised?
But when he came to you to ask to have his tattoo covered up,
I understood that it was a military tattoo. There are still partisans
in the underground in the city, and they're being hunted.
They're looking for them as well as journalists. I didn't have any
questions about the tattoo because it was military and he could simply
be killed.
Many of Alina's customers wanted to get out of the city and also
worried that passing through multiple Russian checkpoints with tattoos
that identified them as supporters of Ukraine.
Be dangerous, Scared and wanted to get them covered up as quickly
as possible, because they understood that they were searched most
often. And if you want to leave, you need to cover it up with something.
How did you feel when you were covering up your own? Um, tattoo artwork
was wary and about that, not to that person.
I was very angry to Russia's all her fearing for her own life, made
the painful decision to alter her tattoos to
it was tough mentally. I felt that I didn't want to do it, but I
had to. There were tears. It's really painful and looks like a fresh
scar to me, but it will always remain in my heart and soul.
Tell our friends in the Ukrainian military and the security service,
the number and location of Russia.
Asian vehicles, So they know where to direct their fire. E cute
boyfriend
Timber, whose name was changed as part of the Ukrainian territorial
defense forces in hiding in her son. He switches apartments frequently
in order to avoid detection by the Russian military. There are a
lot of searches they need to show Nazis. They need to feed their
audience and tell them that everyone here is a card carrying member
if they find a person who has the kind of test
To say, golly, lookie here. We got another Nazi, Aren't we? Great,
So you have to be really careful with tattoos, cover them up or link
them over. It's a real problem. There have been cases where people
have been killed over tattoos in her son. Human Rights Watch documented
the torture of three members of the her son Territorial Defense forces
who are POWs in a report published last month.
Two of them died. The report also documented 42 cases in which Russian
occupation forces either forcibly disappeared civilians or held them
arbitrarily torturing many of them.
Area felt it was time to escape the city. But she feared rape or
worse if she was outed as a supporter of Ukraine
moved when we decided to leave, I had to take a deep breath. I tried
to dress as badly as possible. I gathered my hair into a bun and
put on several shirts. No one paid any attention to me. A lot of
people are getting raped.
It was scary when we were leaving because they undress the men down
to their underwear with women. They would occasionally check their
phones. When we were in line of one of the many checkpoints. Some
people got off the bus because it was harder. They wanted some fresh
air, and they just started shooting their machine guns to force the
people back on the bus. Both all her and Galeria managed to get out
of her son and now live in cities that are still under Ukrainian
control.
But tens of thousands of Ukrainians remain in the city too scared
to leave or lacking the means to do so.