Ukraine’s pro-Russian occupation authorities have chosen the port city of Henichesk, on the southern bank of the Dnieper River, as the provisional capital of Ukraine’s Kherson region, Russia’s official TASS agency reported on Saturday.
The city of Kherson is the capital of the region of the same name, but was reoccupied by Kiev troops on Friday after the withdrawal of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper River.
“Today, Henichesk is the provisional administrative capital of the Kherson region. All major authorities are concentrated there,” Alexander Fomin of the pro-Russian government told TASS, which uses the transliteration of the Ukrainian city’s Russian name.
Russian troops occupied Henichesk on February 27 this year, four days after they invaded Ukraine.
The city takes its name from a strait that connects the lagoon system that separates Crimea from the rest of Ukraine to the Sea of Azov.
In October, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree establishing 20 military governments in the Kherson region, including Henichesk, according to the agency Ukrinform.
Kherson is one of four regions annexed by Russia since it invaded Ukraine, along with Zaporijia (southeast), Donetsk and Lugansk (east).
Russia had already annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea (south) in 2014. Ukraine and the international community generally consider the annexations illegal.
TASS recalled that the withdrawal order was issued on November 9 by Defense Minister Serguei Shoigu, at the suggestion of the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Serguei Surovikin.
According to Surovikin, “the decision to withdraw the armed forces is related, among other things, to the threat of isolation of the group due to the flooding of the areas below the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station,” the official agency reported.
Also, more than 115,000 civilians were transferred from the right bank of the Dnieper, where the city of Kherson is located, to the left bank, the Russian general said.
The city of Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital controlled by troops from Moscow.
The recapture is considered one of Kiev’s most important victories and a humiliation for Moscow.
The recapture was possible with the armaments Ukraine’s armed forces received from their Western allies, which enabled them to launch a counter-offensive in the south and east about two months ago.
The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost nine months, has plunged Europe into what is considered the most serious security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
The number of civilian and military casualties is unknown, but several sources, including the UN, have warned it will be high.
Source: DN
