– People inside the city are scared. I am in contact with my brother and he says that there are Russian tanks in between the block of flats. It was an early Saturday morning in September in the city of Zaporizhzhya, in southeastern Ukraine. As news’s team of two was leaving the hotel, I got into a conversation with the woman who was supposed to clean the room after us. After exchanging a few pleasantries and talking about how hard life was after seven months of war, she told him that her brother still lived in his hometown of Kherson. She did not say much about why he had remained in the Russian-occupied city. Only that he worked in the agricultural sector, like so many others here in this fertile part of Ukraine. Kherson is one of the most important port cities in Ukraine, among other things for the export of grain and other agricultural products. Photo: Andreas Emil Lund We were in Zaporizhzhya, among other things, to be close to the attack that the Ukrainian army had announced, precisely in the areas west and north of Kherson… But when I spoke to the cleaning lady at the hotel in Zaporizhzhya, it was clear that this offensive was partly initiated to divert attention from what was happening in the Kharkiv region a few hundred kilometers further north. Because it was here that the Ukrainian army launched its attack. In a lightning offensive, they liberated large areas within a few days. The Ukrainian defense in the south broke down. Kherson city was captured by the Russian forces on 2 March. It was only about a week after Putin had ordered a full attack on Ukraine. The aim was to remove the country’s legally elected authorities led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyj. While the Russian offensive quickly met strong resistance in the north and east, particularly in the attempt to take the capital Kyiv and the country’s second largest city Kharkiv, the Russians fared better in the south. The Ukrainian defense plans failed. Bridges were not blown up. Almost without meeting resistance, the Russian forces were able to cross the Dnipro River and surround Kherson. After they entered the city, they were met by peaceful protesters. Until the end of April, the city’s mayor Igor Kolikaev held out in his office, as a representative of the Ukrainian authorities. Igor Kolikaev is the mayor of Kherson, but was kidnapped by the Russian occupation forces on 28 June 2022. Photo: Facebook Demonstrators are said to have been shot at by Russian soldiers But then he was physically thrown out, and then arrested by the Russian occupiers at the end of June . No one knows where he is now. Went over to the enemy Kolikaev’s old political opponent Volodymyr Saldo chose to go over to the Russian occupiers. He was eventually appointed by them as governor of the areas of Kherson over which Russia had control. Saldo was also present in Moscow on September 30 when Putin formally incorporated the Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine into Russia. Volodymyr Saldo, on the left in the picture, in the Kremlin in Moscow in connection with Russia saying it had incorporated parts of Ukraine into Russia. Photo: The Russian Presidential Administration This was an act that was unanimously condemned around the world. Ukrainian authorities made it clear that this was the final death blow for a possible peace settlement with Russia under Putin’s regime. Broad Russian retreat in eastern Ukraine Flag removed from administration building On 3 November, social media exploded with images of the large administration building in Kherson without the Russian flag on the roof. Was this a sign that Russia was now about to give up the only regional capital in Ukraine that they managed to occupy at the start of the offensive last spring? The county administration building in Kherson on Thursday, without the Russian flag. Photo: Picture from Facebook The picture was of course heavily symbolic. The Russian occupiers had long since removed the Ukrainian national symbol from the front of the building, but now they had also taken away the red, blue and white Russian flag. The Russian journalist Roman Saponkov, known for his pro-Putin opinions, was quick to show on Telegram that the Russian flag was still flying on other buildings in the city. Diversion maneuver? At the same time, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian army in the area told the website rbk-Ukraine that according to the information they had, the Russian army was preparing for battle. Removing the flag from an administration building was seen by both her and several others as a diversionary maneuver. The aim could be to lure the Ukrainian army into the city, and then attack them there. – Be prepared for provocations was the clear call from Natalija Gumenjuk. There are also warnings on social media that it is possible that the Russian occupiers are trying some form of provocation where civilians are killed, and then blame it on Ukraine. The Ukrainian military blogger and journalist Yuriy Butusov writes that the Russian army has placed some of its best units to defend Kherson. This applies, among other things, to paratroopers and soldiers from the 810 Marine Infantry Brigade. They were the ones who earlier this year took part in the battle in Mariupol further east in Ukraine. Ukraine: On its knees, but not beaten Evacuation or deportation? But that the parties are now preparing for something to happen in Kherson, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statement on November 4 was a clear expression of: – Those who live in Kherson should be evacuated from the areas of dangerous hostilities, Putin said, according to the Ria Novosti news agency . Russian authorities had transported what they called “volunteer aid workers” from the areas they have occupied in Ukraine to the Russian capital. There they were supposed to mark what has now become “Unity Day”. It has replaced what used to be the celebration of the October Revolution in 1917. Now the government-controlled Russian media is overflowing with images of what are described as aid workers. The images are said to show civilians being transported in boats from Kherson across the Dnipro River to the eastern bank. Russian authorities said on Friday that 5,000 people a day are now being transported away from Kherson. Ukrainian authorities call it a pure deportation of their own citizens. According to the Russian occupation authorities, this is supposed to be a boat transporting refugees across the Dnipro River in Kherson. Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / Reuters Did Catherine the Great make Ukraine an executioner Will Ukraine have an urban war? So much is at stake when the Ukrainian forces slowly close the ring on the only regional capital that Russia has managed to take during 8 and 1/2 months of war in Ukraine. But for Zelensky and his strategists, it is also important to proceed cautiously. Kherson has mainly been a Russian-speaking city, where people have historically had close ties to Russia. The Ukrainian army also knows that an urban war can be very costly. They know that the Russian forces have spent a lot of time preparing for battle, as I was told by the woman at the hotel in Zaporizhia. There are many indications that we may be facing a new, dramatic and probably bloody turning point in this war, which is the worst Europe has seen since 1945. Arkhanhelske is one of the towns that the Ukrainian army has liberated from Russian occupation this autumn. The city was heavily destroyed in the fighting. Photo: BULENT KILIC / AFP
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Is Kherson falling now? – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
