Ukrainians celebrated the liberation of the city of Kherson overnight, after eight months of Russian occupation, dancing around a bonfire and singing the patriotic song Chervona Kalyna, according to videos shared by the Kiev military. But after the party, it is necessary to face the reality of the “humanitarian catastrophe”, local authorities said. In addition, the head of diplomacy, Dmitro Kuleba, reminded that “the war continues”. The Russians, who still control about 70% of the region, have already designated a new “in-between city”: Henichesk, which is about 200 km to the south.
An adviser to Kherson Mayor Roman Holovnya spoke of the “humanitarian catastrophe” on Ukrainian television – which has since resumed broadcasting from the city. There is a lack of water, food and medicine in what was the only regional capital to fall to the Russians in the first days of the invasion on February 24. Humanitarian aid and supplies will already arrive from the neighboring Mykolaiv region.
However, Ukrainian police chief Igor Klymenko indicated that There are already 200 agents in the city, who have set up several checkpoints. Ukrainian intelligence believes many Russian soldiers remained, leaving their uniforms and wearing civilian clothes to go undetected. Klymenko also warned of the presence of mines, with a police officer injured while clearing an administrative building. A woman and two children were also injured in the explosion of another device, near the car they were traveling in in Mylove village.
The agents will also begin investigating the “crimes of the Russian occupiers”. As in Bucha, outside Kiev, or Izium, in the Kharkiv region, which were also under Russian occupation, mass graves and other atrocities are feared now that Moscow’s troops have retreated to the eastern bank of the Dnieper River.
The occupiers chose a port city on the Sea of Azov, Henichesk (Genichesk in the transliteration of the Russian name of the Ukrainian city), as the provisional capital of the region – one of which was illegally annexed by Moscow after the September referenda. “All government agencies are now located there,” said pro-Russian government spokesman Alexander Fomin.
Celebrations and congratulations
“We all felt the euphoria together,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram, wondering if anyone had not seen the video of Khersonians welcoming the Ukrainian army. “We will see many more of these gatherings. In the cities and towns that are still occupied. We have not forgotten anyone, we have left no one behind. It will be the same in Henichesk and Melitopol,” he said, including the Donbass region or Crimea. “On the day of liberation, hundreds of Ukrainian flags will hang in the streets,” he guaranteed.
Kuleba, who was in Cambodia with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (on the sidelines of the Southeast Asian summit), defended that the West is moving towards a “joint victory” following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson🇧🇷 “Only few believed that Ukraine would survive,” he said. “It is happening and our victory will be a collective victory, a victory for all peace-loving nations around the world.” added.
Washington praised the “extraordinary victory” of the Ukrainians, while London reiterated that the Russian withdrawal marked “another strategic failure” on Moscow’s part. “The UK and the international community will continue to support us [os ucranianos] and while withdrawal is welcome, no one will underestimate the threat from Russia,” Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said.
Source: DN
