Residents of Kherson celebrated for the third straight day Sunday, even as they took stock of the extensive damage left behind in the southern Ukrainian city by the KremlinB次元官网网址檚 retreating forces.
A jubilant crowd gathered in KhersonB次元官网网址檚 main square, despite the distant thumps of artillery fire that could be heard as Ukrainian forces pressed on with their effort to push out MoscowB次元官网网址檚 invasion force.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a new year for us now,B次元官网网址� said Karina Zaikina, 24, who wore on her coat a yellow-and-blue ribbon in UkraineB次元官网网址檚 national colors. B次元官网网址淔or the first time in many months, I wasnB次元官网网址檛 scared to come into the city.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淔inally, freedom!B次元官网网址� said 61-year-old resident Tetiana Hitina. B次元官网网址淭he city was dead.B次元官网网址�
But even as locals rejoiced, the evidence of RussiaB次元官网网址檚 ruthless occupation was all around, and Russian forces still control some 70% of the wider Kherson region.
With cellphone networks knocked out, Zaikina and others lined up to use a satellite phone connection set up for everyoneB次元官网网址檚 use in the square, enabling them to swap news with family and friends for the first time in weeks.
Downtown stores were shuttered. With many people having fled the city during the Russian occupation, the city streets were thinly populated. Many of the few people venturing out Sunday carried yellow and blue flags. On the square, people lined up to ask soldiers to autograph their flags and rewarded them with hugs. Some wept.
More bleakly, Kherson is also without electricity or running water, and food and medical supplies are short. Residents said Russian troops plundered the city, carting away loot as they withdrew last week. They also wrecked key public infrastructure before retreating across the wide Dnieper River to its east bank. One Ukrainian official described the situation in Kherson as B次元官网网址渁 humanitarian catastrophe.B次元官网网址�
B次元官网网址淚 donB次元官网网址檛 understand what kind of people this is. I donB次元官网网址檛 know why they did it,B次元官网网址� said resident Yevhen Teliezhenko, draped in a Ukrainian flag.
Still, he said, B次元官网网址渋t became easier to breatheB次元官网网址� once the Russians had gone.
B次元官网网址淭here is no better holiday than whatB次元官网网址檚 happening now,B次元官网网址� he declared.
Ukrainian authorities said the demining of critical infrastructure is under way in the city. Reconnecting the electricity supply is the priority, with gas supplies already assured, Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.
The Russian pullout marked a triumphant milestone in UkraineB次元官网网址檚 pushback against MoscowB次元官网网址檚 invasion almost nine months ago. In the past two months, UkraineB次元官网网址檚 military claimed to have retaken dozens of towns and villages north of the city of Kherson.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy vowed to keep up the pressure on Russian forces, reassuring the people in Ukrainian cities and villages that are still under occupation.
B次元官网网址淲e donB次元官网网址檛 forget anyone; we wonB次元官网网址檛 leave anyone,B次元官网网址� he said.
UkraineB次元官网网址檚 retaking of Kherson was a significant setback for the Kremlin and the latest in a series of battlefield embarrassments. It came some six weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Kherson region and three other provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine B次元官网网址� in breach of international law B次元官网网址� and declared them Russian territory.
The U.S. embassy in Kyiv tweeted comments Sunday by National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who described the turnaround in Kherson as B次元官网网址渁n extraordinary victoryB次元官网网址� for Ukraine and B次元官网网址渜uite a remarkable thing.B次元官网网址�
The reversal came despite PutinB次元官网网址檚 recent partial mobilization of reservists, raising troop numbers by some 300,000. That has been hard for the Russian military to digest.
B次元官网网址淩ussian military leadership is trying and largely failing to integrate combat forces drawn from many different organizations and of many different types and levels of skill and equipment into a more cohesive fighting force in Ukraine,B次元官网网址� commented the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that tracks the conflict
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin will be B次元官网网址渨orriedB次元官网网址� by the loss of Kherson but warned against underestimating Moscow. B次元官网网址淚f they need more cannon fodder, that is what theyB次元官网网址檒l be doing,B次元官网网址� he said.
Ukrainian police called on residents to help identify collaborators with Russian forces. Ukrainian police officers returned to the city Saturday, along with public broadcasting services. The national police chief of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, said about 200 officers were at work in the city, setting up checkpoints and documenting evidence of possible war crimes.
In what could perhaps be the next district to fall in UkraineB次元官网网址檚 march on territory annexed by Moscow, the Russian-appointed administration of the Kakhovka district, east of the city of Kherson, announced Saturday it was evacuating its employees.
B次元官网网址淭oday, the administration is the No. 1 target for Ukrainian attacks,B次元官网网址� said the Moscow-installed leader of Kakhovka, Pavel Filipchuk. B次元官网网址淲e, as an authority, are moving to a safer territory, from where we will lead the district.B次元官网网址�
Kakhovka is located on the east bank of the Dnieper River, upstream of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station.
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John Leicester contributed to this story from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Follow APB次元官网网址檚 coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Hanna Arhirova, The Associated Press
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