According to then-hromada head Yevhen Ryshchuk, all of the hromada officials refused to collaborate with the occupation regime.

Ryshchuk, in an interview, stated that the community was now living "under the hands of orcs", comparing the soldiers' violent attacks on civilians to those committed by other Russian troops during the then-recently discovered Bucha massacre.

To keep order, local residents formed a patrol service, carrying wooden sticks around town.

This flight took place in two "waves" - one after the discovery of atrocities in Bucha and fear of similar events in the hromada, and the second after rumors spread about forced mobilization of Ukrainians in occupied territories.

Ryshchuk links the second wave specifically to an announcement by then-Ukrainian government advisor Oleksii Arestovych on television, instructing people to "Run!

"[4] On 2 January 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree establishing a military administration for the hromada.

[8] As a result of the destruction of the Kakhovka dam by explosives on 6 June 2023, most of the settlements in the hromada were flooded, killing at least nine people.