Executioners, FSB agents, Russian National Guard soldiers, collaborators, propaganda - these are the traditional components of the establishment of an occupational regime by the Russians on the captured territories.

The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, explained in an interview with Dmytro Komarov for the documentary project "Year. Kharkiv Region" how this was happening in the populated areas of the region during the Russian occupation, as well as the significance of Ukraine's victorious offensive last year.

"To establish control over cities and populated areas, the Russian National Guard was involved. This is the standard tactic for the Russians; they entered in this way on all fronts: an armed forces unit, and right after or along with them, units of the Russian National Guard," said Kyrylo Budanov.

He added that a crucial component of the Russian occupation presence was the total propaganda aimed at substituting reality.

"Substituting reality usually begins with the artificial alteration of history," noted the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

According to him, the rapid and sudden Ukrainian advance in Kharkiv region last year, when almost the entire region was liberated, stunned even the most fanatical and outrageous Kremlin propagandists.

"If you remember the media activity of such outspoken propagandists as Simonyan, Soloviev, and others, even they fell silent at that time. They were saying, 'What is happening? Are we losing? Are we being defeated?' They were bewildered," recalled the head of Ukraine's Military Intelligence.

"In [Russian] society, questions arose: 'How could it be that Russia was beaten?' They've never experienced such a mental defeat anywhere. I guarantee you that this page won't even be mentioned in Russian history," concluded Kyrylo Budanov.