On Tuesday morning, a major dam in Kherson, southern Ukraine, suffered severe damage, putting approximately 42,000 people at risk of flooding.
Due to the rising floodwaters, some individuals in affected areas were left with no choice but to spend the night on their rooftops or seek refuge in trees.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has issued a warning, stating that hundreds of thousands of people are now without access to clean water. The flood levels in certain affected regions are expected to reach their highest point later today.
According to reports from Russia’s state media, at least seven individuals are currently missing, and a state of emergency has been declared in the annexed part of Ukraine’s Kherson region.
Both Ukraine and Russia have engaged in a blame game regarding the dam collapse. President Zelensky has accused Russia of deliberately triggering an “environmental bomb of mass destruction.”
Conversely, Russia claims that Ukraine orchestrated the attack on the dam to divert attention from what Moscow perceives as Kyiv’s failures in its counter-offensive.
The remaining structure of the Kakhovka dam is likely to deteriorate further over the next few days, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.
In an intelligence update posted on Twitter, the MoD says the dam partially failed shortly before 03:00 local time on Tuesday and the entire eastern portion of the structure was swept away by midday.
It also says the water level in the Kakhovka reservoir was at a record high shortly before the breach, which led to a “particularly high volume of water inundating the area downstream”.
But the MoD also says the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is “highly unlikely” to face immediate safety issues over the dropping water levels in the reservoir.
Image caption, Authorities are encouraging residents to leave Kherson, which was liberated from Russian control in November
Thirteen-year-old Nika Selivanova made a heart shape with both her hands, waving goodbye to her best friend Inna who was pressed up against the glass partition that divided the entrance hall of Kherson’s train station from the waiting area.
The girls didn’t know when they might see each other again.
Nika’s family was leaving Kherson, not sure of where they would end up eventually. For now, they were heading to the western city of Khmelnytskyi, hoping they would get some help there.
“Before, they [Russian forces] shelled us seven to 10 times a day, now it’s 70-80 times, all day long. It’s too scary.” Elena said. “I love Ukraine and my dear city. But we have to go.”
Elena and her three daughters are among more than 400 people who have left Kherson since Christmas Day, after a sharp increase in the intensity of the bombardment of the city by the Russian military.
On Tuesday, a hospital maternity ward was shelled. No-one was hurt but it has further escalated fear among people.
Elena left by train, in an evacuation facilitated by the Ukrainian government.
Image caption, These cars were driving out of Kherson on Christmas morning
Hundreds of people are leaving on their own, a queue of cars building up at the checkpoint leading out of Kherson, filled with terrified civilians.
Iryna Antonenko was in tears when we walked up to her car to speak to her.
‘We can’t take it anymore. The shelling is so intense. We stayed this whole time and thought it would pass and that we would be lucky. But a strike hit the house next to ours, and my father’s home was also shelled,” she said.
She planned to travel to Kryvyi Rih, a city in central Ukraine where she has family.
Image caption, This image shows the aftermath of one of many strikes which hit Kherson on 24 December
Just last month, there had been jubilant scenes in Kherson. Taken by Russian forces on the second day of the invasion, the city was liberated on 11 November.
Close to the spot where masses had gathered waving Ukrainian flags to celebrate being freed from Russian control, a mortar attack on Christmas Eve left eleven dead, and dozens injured.
Among the dead were a social worker, a butcher and a woman selling mobile Sim cards – ordinary people working at or visiting the city’s central market.
That day, Kherson was hit by mortars 41 times, according to the Ukrainian government.
The Russians are firing from the left (east) bank of the Dnipro river, where they withdrew to; the waterway has become a de facto frontline in the south of Ukraine.
Kherson is a strategically important region, often called the gateway to Crimea. Many analysts say that Russia has now been forced into a defensive position here.
It’s hard to see what it hopes to gain from the pounding of Kherson. In addition to mortar shells, we have also seen incendiary munitions being used – fiery sparks raining down on the city, intended to set fire to targets.
It’s also unclear if the Ukrainian military is attempting to take back control of areas on the left bank of the river.
Here in the city, there’s barely ever a break from the constant sound of mortar shell attacks.
Serhii Breshun, 56, was killed when he was asleep. His home collapsed on him after a shell hit it.
Image caption, Serhii’s passport was retrieved from the ruins of his home
The day after he died, we met his mother, 82-year-old Tamara, who had come to search for his passport in the rubble. She needed the document to get his body released from the morgue.
“I must have had a sense that something would go wrong that day. Because I spoke to him [over the phone] and urged him to leave the house. He didn’t and that was it. Our lives have been ruined,” she wept.
We’d barely finished talking to her, and there were more loud explosions.
The elderly mother’s lone pursuit to give her son a dignified farewell is a dangerous one, because no part of Kherson is safe.
Image caption, Tamara, 82, must now bury her son
Surviving here, whether out in a street or inside a home, is a matter of chance.
Thirty-nine-year-old Red Cross volunteer Viktoria Yaryshko was killed in a mortar shell explosion just outside the organisation’s base in Kherson, a few feet away from safety.
Her mother Liudmyla Berezhna showed us the medal of honour Viktoria was given.
“I’m very happy she helped a lot of people. She was so kind. But it’s also painful for me. I must recover and raise her two children. I tell them they should be proud of their mother because she is a hero,” she said.
Image caption, Viktoria was a Red Cross volunteer and the mother of two children
Viktoria had been living in the underground shelter of the Red Cross with her two children – 17-year-old Alyonushka and 12-year-old Sasha. They continue to live there, feeling comfort and protection amidst a group of volunteers who’ve become family.
‘When someone so close dies, it is difficult. But if we give up and stop, then her death would have been in vain. We work to make sure people live. Everything else is secondary,” said Dmitro Rakitskyi, Viktoria’s friend and another volunteer.
But it’s hard to do that knowing your own family could be in danger every minute.
When a few moments later, more bombs go off, Dmitro paces up and down trying to call his wife, tension visible on his face. He has two children.
“They don’t want to leave. They worry about me, and I worry about them. That’s how we live,” he said.
Image caption, Dmitro, a friend of Viktoria’s, knows he and his family remain at risk in Kherson
“What makes me most angry is that they [Russian forces] always hit civilian infrastructure. Houses, apartment blocks, boiler rooms. It’s impossible to understand the logic behind these attacks,” Dmitro said.
“We almost never have power or water. It comes briefly sometimes and is gone again because of shelling. It’s very scary at night. We still have gas though, and are able to stay warm,” one resident, Larysa Revtova, said.
Tens of thousands of civilians are still living in Kherson, but at least twice this week the regional administration has urged them to leave.
It is a city haunted by relentless and indiscriminate attacks.
Additional reporting by Imogen Anderson, Mariana Matveichuk, Daria Sipigina and Sanjay Ganguly.
In a second day of Russian attacks on central Kherson, which Ukraine recaptured last month, two people have died, according to Ukrainian officials.
According to the regional governor, the city as a whole was left without power due to heavy shelling on vital infrastructure in the port area.
One of Moscow’s biggest setbacks since the invasion in February was the Russian army’s withdrawal from Kherson.
Power facilities in Ukrainian cities have been the target for weeks.
Due to the below-freezing winter temperatures, millions of Ukrainians are without heat or electricity.
Shells reportedly landed 100m (328ft) from the main administration building in Kherson city, officials said, a day after the building itself was badly damaged. A 32-year-old paramedic and a 70-year-old man were killed in the attack which hit a medical aid point, Ukrainian media said.
Explosions also went off in Ukraine’s second biggest city Kharkiv. Mayor Igor Terekhov said Russia was shelling infrastructure facilities and appealed to residents to stay in shelters if possible.
UN human rights commissioner Volker Turk warned that Russia’s attacks were exposing millions of Ukrainians to “extreme hardship” and further attacks on power facilities could “lead to a further serious deterioration in the humanitarian situation and spark more displacement”.
Meanwhile, Russian-backed proxies said Ukrainian forces had launched their “most massive strike” on the centre of occupied Donetsk since 2014, when the separatists triggered a conflict by seizing parts of the Donbas region.
Russian-appointed official Alexei Kulemzin said 40 rockets were fired, killing one person and leaving nine more wounded.
Details of the attack could not be confirmed, but Mr Kulemzin posted pictures of damaged buildings in the city.
In his speech to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Volker Turk said the war had left 18 million people in need of humanitarian aid. He gave details of summary executions of civilians by the Russian military between February and April, including the infamous murders in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed to EU leaders on Thursday to help defeat “Russia’s energy terror”, by maintaining Ukraine’s energy supply with around 2bn cubic metres of gas and electricity worth about €800m (£697m; $851m) worth of electricity.
In the past six months he said Ukraine had achieved tangible victories and had begun building an air shield for Ukraine. The capital Kyiv was also targeted by 13 drones on Wednesday, the president said, but the military had been able to repel it.
IMAGE SOURCE,KHERSON OVA Image caption, This was the scene inside the Kherson administration building after Wednesday’s attack
The city of Kherson is still without electricity, an official in the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Ukrainian television on Monday.
“There is no electricity in Kherson city. We are working on it,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said. “This is the number one task for sure.”
Ukrainian forces swept into the city and Russian troops retreated to the east on November 11 following a months-long Russian occupation.
Tymoshenko said the government had established a network of tents and buildings that had generators — so-called “invincibility points” — where people could access hot water and heat up food. Some 1,600 people accessed these facilities on Sunday, the State Emergency Service said on Telegram.
On Sunday, the Kherson city council also published a list of four water distribution points where residents could get water this week.
The head of Ukraine’s biggest private energy firm says people should consider leaving the country to reduce demand on the country’s power network.
“If they can find an alternative place to stay for another three or four months, it will be very helpful to the system,” DTEK chief executive Maxim Timchenko told the BBC.
Russian attacks have damaged almost half of Ukraine’s energy system.
Millions of people are without power as temperatures drop for winter.
Blackouts – both scheduled and unscheduled –have become common in many parts of Ukraine, as Russia aims regular waves of missile attacks at parts of the energy infrastructure.
Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov suggested that the strikes were a “consequence” of Ukraine’s refusal to negotiate with Russia.
Several Western leaders have said that targeting civilian infrastructure is a war crime.
Mr Timchenko, whose company supplies more than a quarter of Ukraine’s power, says the system becomes less reliable with each Russian attack, and reducing electricity consumption is the key to keeping it running.
The government has urged people to limit their use of domestic appliances such as ovens and washing machines.
But the damaged energy system is still unable to produce enough electricity to meet current needs, so any way of reducing usage – including leaving the country – should be seen as helping Ukraine to win the war against Russia, Mr Timchenko explained.
“If you consume less, then hospitals with injured soldiers will have guaranteed power supply. This is how it can be explained that by consuming less or leaving, they also contribute to other people.”
Russia’s attacks on infrastructure increased after a series of setbacks on the battlefield, including a major Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region and territorial gains in the south of the country, which eventually led to the recapture of the city of Kherson.
With temperatures in some parts of Ukraine already below freezing, there is concern that millions of people will be left without power and heating throughout the winter.
Until now, blackouts have generally been limited to a few hours, but more Russian attacks could lead to longer periods without power. Fixing the damaged infrastructure is also becoming more difficult.
“Unfortunately we have run out of equipment and spare parts… That’s why we appeal to our partners, government officials, companies and equipment producers to help us with the immediate supply of available equipment,” Mr Timchenko said.
Russia’s historical ties with Ukraine – including in developing its energy system – are also proving a problem.
“They were colleagues, now they are enemies,” Mr Timchenko said. “They bring all this knowledge to Russian military forces, educate them, make very concrete targets, know big parts of our grid or power stations.”
Despite the difficulties though, Ukrainian engineers continue to work in some of the most dangerous parts of the country, risking their lives to reconnect towns and cities to the grid.
In the week since Russia pulled out of the southern city of Kherson,visceral relief has been replaced with an optimistic busyness.
As an acoustic band plays Western covers, queues of people snake around the city’s main square.
There are tents where residents can get a hot drink or first aid. Many gather at mobile phone masts like bees around honey.
“We’re calm now,” Kostiantyn tells me as he queues for food donations with his daughter on his shoulders. “No water or power is fine.”
The port city was captured by Russia in March, just days after forces invaded Ukraine. It was the only regional capital Russia managed to seize since February, but its military was forced to withdraw last week.
Image source, Moose Campbell Image caption, Russian soldiers used to threaten Kostiantyn Belitskyi’s family with their weapons
Also happy to chat was Olena, who admits to getting used to the Russian occupation.
“Ukrainian forces make us calm,” she says.
“Now we can tell who is shelling and from where. If it’s the Ukrainians that makes us happy, we’re free now.”
Image source, Moose Campbell Image caption, Olena Hatylo says she was collecting food donations for her disabled neighbours
“We have no light, no water but we have freedom!” exclaims Hryhorii Mykolayovych, who works in his local community kitchen.
He’s frying sliced courgette over a log stove outside a block of flats.
After I ask him how he is, he takes a deep swallow and says: “The shelling is a bit of a problem, but things will get better. All of this is temporary.”
The city’s governor hopes so too. Yaroslav Yanushevych says his priority is “making everyone feel safer”. He also wants every Russian collaborator to be “punished”.
Image source, AFP
In a picture of “cause and effect”, bread is handed out under pro-Moscow billboards which read “Together with Russia”.
They were plastered across the city by Russian occupiers. Most have been torn down, but not all.
These humanitarian efforts are being gratefully received. It’s clear they’re desperately needed after Kherson was cut off by Russia’s grasp for eight months.
However, for the estimated 75,000 people who chose to stay in Kherson, a lot more is needed for this city to get back on its feet.
It is, though, slowly reconnecting with Ukraine.
Lorries instead of tanks now move into the city along damaged roads. Train services between Kyiv and Kherson have also resumed.
While there is relief Kherson wasn’t destroyed like other occupied cities, such as Mariupol, no one is thinking the danger has gone away.
Image source, Moose Campbell Image caption, Russian-occupied territory in the eastern bank of the Dnipro River
The sandy banks of the Dnipro River in Kherson are now the front line in this part of Ukraine.
Six hundred metres across is territory occupied by Russia. The thuds of artillery and whistling shells overhead illustrate how dangerous this part of the city has become.
Despite its appearance, this boundary is far from clear. In pulling out, the Russians left thousands of soldiers and collaborators behind.
It’s also not clear whether Ukraine’s counteroffensives will stop here, despite winter being round the corner.
For Kherson, liberation has not brought calm. But for the majority, it is “better than before”.
Oleksander’s restless pale blue eyes are as expressive as his words. He’s nervous, and rightly so, as hereturns to the jail in the newly liberated city of Kherson, where he claims Russian guards beat him every day.
In this Soviet-era prison, we pass through guard rooms, turnstiles, and heavy iron doors, and travel along fences topped with reams of razor wire until we reach one of the epicentres of Russia’s brutal occupation of Ukraine.
Oleksander and another former prisoner who did not want to be interviewed say Russian guards executed Ukrainian prisoners for pro-Ukrainian chants or tattoos in this dark and rubble-strewn corridor. CNN is only identifying Oleksander by his first name.
As Oleksander pushes on a solid, red iron cell door at the end of the corridor, burning wood falls from the ceiling, smoke billows and glowing embers tumble out. The ceiling in this part of the cell block is alight and burning timbers are crashing down.
That’s where the Russian troops brought people for torture, Oleksander tells us. After the Russians withdrew from Kherson “they set fire [to] it to destroy evidence of their crimes,” he says. It is impossible to enter to check it out, due to the flames.
The Russian retreat was fast – some 30,000 troops, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defense, executed their withdrawal within three days of Russia’s announcement they were leaving. They’d been preparing for the move for several weeks and blamed it on poor supply lines across the Dnipro River, which Ukraine had been intentionally targeting with US-made HIMARS rocket launchers since late July.
Back in daylight outside the cellblock, Oleksander says he was arrested in his apartment by Russian police, accused of being a criminal. He says they deliberately broke his leg by kneeling on it as they restrained him.
He tells us it wasn’t his first time in Kherson’s jail, having previously spent time there for a criminal offense. But unlike the Ukrainian guards, he says, the Russians were needlessly brutal. “They abused everybody, kept us hungry, used us as free labor to repair their military vehicles, they were beating us as they wanted,” Oleksander says.
Russia has previously denied allegations of war crimes and claimed its forces do not target civilians, despite extensive evidence gathered by international human rights experts, criminal investigators and international media in multiple locations.
A former prisoner holds up jail keys at Kherson’s central prison following the city’s liberation by Ukrainian forces. Kareem Khadder/CNN
Fear of collaborators
Kosta’s experience was different – his alleged abuse was more psychological than physical, although he says he experienced plenty of that too.
The Russians suspected him of being part of an underground network of saboteurs targeting their officials and facilities, says Kosta, whom CNN is identifying only by his first name for security reasons.
Mysterious car bombs and other explosions had become a nagging concern for the local Russian-installed administration, whose boss, Kirill Stremousov, died in a sudden, unexplained car accident during the final days of the Russian occupation.
Not long after underground activists blew up a Russian police vehicle near Kosta’s Kherson apartment, he says 11 heavily armed Russians showed up at his door and forced their way in.
Closer to 30 than 20, Kosta won’t let us show his face on camera. He says the Russians have him on a database, and knew details of his cellphones when they showed up at his apartment.
They were so well prepared, they knew where he went to school, Kosta says, and accused him of previously being a member of “Right Sector,” a far-right nationalist organization with political and military wings. He denies belonging to the organization.
When we meet in Kherson’s central city square amid the cacophony of liberation celebrations, Kosta is less jubilant than the others around him. He says it is taking him some time to adjust to the new freedoms and he is wary that Russian collaborators, still at large, could target him.
Anger on the front lines and anxiety at home as Russia’s mobilization is mired in problems
Many Ukrainians who came to talk with us during the first few heady days of liberation told us of their surprise at how many people they knew had collaborated with the Russians when they first took control of the city in early March.
A lively 71-year-old former marine engineer who came over to talk with us just hours after the Russians had gone was particularly animated on the subject. “Many people who were born here, educated here, working here, they welcomed the Orcs (an anti-Russian slur), I was astounded, I hated it,” said the man, who didn’t give his name.
The reasons for such collaboration vary. Conversations with people in the city suggest a minority were pro-Russian and thought the Russians would be there to stay, making collaboration the path to an easier life; others were forced by the Russians to collaborate.
Unlike Kosta, the former engineer was less worried about the reappearance of those who worked with the Russians and more concerned that they be held to account. “I want to say burn these people who collaborated with foreign forces in hell,” he said.
‘It was really scary’
In any other circumstance, Kosta seems like the sort of guy who can handle himself – wiry, and judging by his handshake, strong – but he says the Russians put him through a psychological wringer.
It began, he said, when he was still inside the apartment as the Russians first detained him. “One guy come to me with a pistol, with a pistol to my head and start to ask questions. Do you know what [will] happen with your wife? If you will not tell us the truth? I say okay, I guess I will tell everyone, just start to ask questions. They say no, you will tell us without questions.”
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That was just the beginning, Kosta says. When they took him to a police station and put him in a cell the mental torture got worse. “There is nothing that can prepare you for it,” he says.
They put a gun to his head again, he says, and told him to talk – again, with no questions, to increase the pressure on him to speak – and pulled the trigger. The emotions etch deeper on Kosta’s face as he explains the torment. “I’m not sure that all life pass[ed] before my eyes but it was really scary,” he says.
Kosta doesn’t claim to be part of that resistance organized in part by the Ukrainian intelligence service, or SBU, but plenty of people in Kherson helped where they could. One hotel owner told CNN he hid injured Ukrainian soldiers in his basement for several months until they could be smuggled to safety.
The Russians’ grip on Kherson depended on stamping out pro-Ukrainian sentiment. Kosta knew if he couldn’t convince the Russians he was innocent, they’d take him deeper into Russian-controlled territory for more interrogations.
After the mock execution, he says, they tried fake electrocutions. “They put the electric to my testicles … but don’t start the power.”
He said he’d prepared himself to crack if the torture got very physical. “I understand [with] the real torture nobody can take it,” he says. Indeed, in the cells beneath his, he says he could hear people screaming and crying for their mothers while being beaten into a confession.
Through it all he didn’t crack, and, without hard evidence, he says, the Russians let him go – but he still finds himself looking over his shoulder.
Kosta may feel some relief in the coming weeks; a Ukrainian reconnaissance commander CNN met months ago during the push for Kherson arrived in the city Monday with one stated mission: to root out residents who had worked with the Russians.
How the Ukrainian military handles those suspects will be a true measure of how much they want to separate themselves from theRussian-style brutality that Kherson suffered for most of 2022.
These are the first Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian cities since Kyiv‘s forces liberated Kherson, a key southern port city, on Friday.
Ukrainians regard the recapture of Kherson as a major victory, comparable to the retreat of Russian troops from the Kyiv suburbs in March, as well as a humiliation for the Kremlin.
Approximately 30,000 Russian troops withdrew to the Dnipro’s eastern bank, and Kherson celebrated the weekend. Since early March, the city has been under Russian occupation.
But before today Russia had already fired hundreds of missiles at Ukrainian cities, hitting residential blocks, power stations and many other civilian installations. Many were cruise missiles fired from Russian bombers or ships positioned outside Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine says its air defences have shot down many Russian missiles during these strikes.
Russia claims the Kherson region and three other occupied Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia, as well as Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014. The claim – following hastily organised local “referendums” – is rejected internationally.
Russiamay have delayed announcing its withdrawal from Kherson in order to sway the outcome of the midterm elections in favour of Republicans, according to sources familiar with US intelligence.
Republicans failed to achieve the hoped-for “red wave,” and Democrats retained control ofthe US Senate after holding seats in key swing states Arizona and Nevada.
According to the most recent NBC News projection, Republicans will win 220 House seats to the Democrats’ 215.
That means the Republicans would still take control but with much less authority than the 40+ gains anticipated by some pollsters.
Now, sources have suggested that Russia delayed its Kherson withdrawal announcement in part to stop the Democrats from a political lead.
One source said the US elections were a “pre-planned condition” when it came to Russia’s acknowledgement that it was not succeeding in the Kherson region.
Meanwhile another source told CNN: “Even though there is still robust bipartisan agreement on Ukraine, the party that has been much more vocally supportive is the Democratic Party, and particularly the Biden administration.”
In Washington last week, President Joe Biden also appeared to notice the timing of Russia’s announcement as he described how Russia’s decision to leave Kherson was “evidence” they had “some real problems”.
He said: “I find it interesting that they waited until after the [US midterm] election to make that judgement.”
Zelenskyy triumphantly walked the streets of Kherson, hailing Russia’s withdrawal as the “beginning of the end of the war,” but also acknowledging the high cost Ukrainian troops are paying in their grinding effort to push back the Russians.
Zelenskyy awarded medals to soldiers and posed for selfies with them in Kherson, striking a defiant tone.
“This is the beginning of the end of the war,” he said. “We are step by step coming to all the temporarily occupied territories.”
But he also grimly noted that the fighting “took the best heroes of our country”.
Zelenskyy’s trip to Kherson was another is a series of unexpected visits to front-line areas at crucial moments of the war. This one was laden with both symbolism and the common touch — clearly aimed at boosting morale of soldiers and civilians alike.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says that investigators have uncovered more than 400 war crimes in areas of Kherson abandoned by Russian forces as they retreated.
Mr Zelensky said the bodies of civilians and soldiers had been found.
The BBC has been unable to verify the allegations. Moscow denies its troops intentionally target civilians.
Meanwhile Ukrainian authorities imposed an overnight curfew and restricted travel in and out of Kherson.
“In the Kherson region, the Russian army left behind the same atrocities as in other regions of our country, where it was able to enter,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.
“We will find and bring to justice every murderer. Without a doubt.”
Since the start of the war, mass graves have been found in areas including Bucha, Izyum and Mariupol. Ukraine has accused Russian troops of being behind the atrocities.
A UN commission last month said that war crimes had been committed in Ukraine and that Russian forces were responsible for the “vast majority” of human rights violations at the start of the invasion.
Kherson was the only regional capital to be captured by Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine.
The region, along with three others, was proclaimed by President Vladimir Putin to be part of Russia, at a ceremony in the Kremlin in September.
But Kherson city was liberated by Ukrainian troops on Friday. Crowds of flag-waving Ukrainians greeted Kyiv’s soldiers with hugs and kisses.
Officials have returned to run Kherson’s administration after the retreat of some 30,000 Russian occupation troops.
Ukrainians see it as a major national victory and humiliation for the Kremlin, on a par with the Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv suburbs in March.
There are fears that some Russian soldiers may have remained behind in disguise, while collaborators who helped the Russians during the occupation are now liable to be prosecuted.
Mr Zelensky said detention of Russian soldiers and mercenaries “who were left behind in this territory and neutralisation of saboteurs are also ongoing”.
Ukrainian forces are working to restore internet and television connections, while electricity and water supplies will be fixed “as soon as possible”, he said.
There are fears that Russian troops, now digging in on the opposite bank of the Dnipro river, may resume shelling.
Kherson officials have banned use of river transport from 13 to 19 November.
Russian explosives litter the region, and locals who fled have been warned not to return until their homes have been checked for mines or booby traps.
Kherson governor Yaroslav Yanushevych has told citizens to avoid crowded places and stay away from the city centre on Monday because the military will be de-mining there.
The overnight curfew was put in place from 17:00 to 08:00 (15:00 to 06:00 GMT).
Following scenes of joy in newly liberated Kherson,Ukrainian authorities imposed a curfew and restricted travel in and out of the city, citing a tense security situation.
There are fears that Russian troops, who have retreated to the opposite bank of the Dnipro river, will resume shelling.
From November 13 to 19, Kherson officials have barred the use of river transportation.
Locals who fled have been warned not to return until their homes have been thoroughly inspected for mines or booby traps.
Russian explosives litter the region.
“The enemy mined all critical infrastructure objects,” said Kherson governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.
The overnight curfew runs from 17:00 to 08:00 (15:00 to 06:00 GMT). Officials have returned to run Kherson’s administration after the retreat of some 30,000 Russian occupation troops.
There are also fears that some Russian soldiers may have remained behind in disguise, while collaborators who helped the Russians during the occupation are now liable to be prosecuted.
In a reminder of the continuing threat, a volley of artillery fire hit the area of Kherson airport on Sunday.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russians had destroyed all critical infrastructure in Kherson, depriving the city of heat, electricity, water, and communications.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, Kherson celebrations followed months of grim Russian occupation
Gradually essential supplies are arriving in Kherson, Ukrainian officials say.
Governor Yanushevych has announced a distribution of firewood to residents of Kherson and nearby areas, instructing them to request it with their ID and contact details. The city council also plans to hand out 6,000 small stoves to local residents.
“Most houses have no electricity, no water, and problems with gas supplies,” said Yuriy Sobolevskiy, a senior council official.
Kherson’s liberation on Friday was marked by crowds of flag-waving Ukrainians greeting Kyiv’s soldiers with hugs and kisses. The celebrations continued on Saturday.
Ukrainians see it as a major national victory and humiliation for the Kremlin, on a par with the Russian withdrawal from the Kyiv suburbs in March.
Ukrainian officials say there was widespread looting by the Russian army. The level of theft has triggered mockery by Ukrainians since a video clip surfaced showing a Russian soldier picking up a raccoon by its tail and throwing it into a cage inside an enclosure – reportedly in Kherson zoo.
The raccoon meme has gone viral on social media, with Ukrainians turning the raccoon – allegedly a prisoner of the Russians – into a war hero.
Ukrainians joked about a message on Telegram by a Russian blogger, Anna Dolgareva, which said: “I was begged to provide some good news about Kherson, but really the only good news is that my friend managed to steal a raccoon from Kherson zoo.”
According to Oleksandr Todorchuk, founder of the animal welfare charity UAnimals, “the raccoon from Kherson zoo was stolen not just by some stupid soldier, but by the Russian command”. In a Facebook post, he said: “They took most of the zoo’s collection to Crimea: from llamas and wolves to donkeys and squirrels.”
Kherson was the only regional capital to be captured by Russia since the February invasion of Ukraine.
The region, along with three others, was proclaimed by President Vladimir Putin to be part of Russia, at a ceremony in the Kremlin in September.
Ukrainian officials have warned “the war is not over” after Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, even as celebrations continue over the weekend.
Cheering crowds welcomed Ukrainian troops to the city – the only regional capital taken by Moscow since February – on Friday.
Similarly jubilant scenes were reported in other regions across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, and Odesa.
But despite the blow to Moscow’s ambitions, officials remain cautious.
Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, warned the BBC it was “too early to relax”.
“We always believed that we would liberate Kherson,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme. “And we are confident that now Russians are beginning to believe that they will never be able to win this war. We see the panic in their ranks. We see the panic in their propaganda machine.
“But of course, this is a very important moment, but… this war is far from over.”
Kherson lacks running water, medicines and food, but emergency supplies are starting to arrive from nearby Mykolaiv, an aide to the city’s mayor says.
The aide, Roman Golovnya, says 70-80,000 people live in Kherson now, out of a pre-war population of 320,000.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that “before fleeing from Kherson, the occupiers destroyed all critical infrastructure – communications, supply of water, heat, electricity”.
It is not yet clear when electricity will be restored to the city – nearby areas are expected to get it back in a few days’ time. The power cuts prevented Kherson’s bakeries from making bread.
Ukrainian forces have begun the huge task of dismantling Russian mines and booby-traps in and around Kherson, Mr Zelensky said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian TV has resumed broadcasts in the area – a key source of news for many Ukrainians.
Yuriy Sak warned of the continuing risk of missile attacks – as did Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region’s military administration. Russia has been firing missiles at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in recent weeks, severely damaging the country’s output.
Mr Kuleba told the BBC: “Over the past month… we have seen massive shelling of peaceful settlements in Ukraine. Now I want to say that the threat of rocket attacks on the Kyiv region remains high.”
Meanwhile, the former head of Ukraine’s National Security Council, Oleksandr Danylyuk, has warned that the Russian troops who have retreated from Kherson will have crossed the Dnipro river to “go into deep defence on the left bank”, telling the BBC “it will put them [at an] advantageous position”.
Moscow said some 30,000 personnel had been taken out of the area – as well as around 5,000 pieces of military hardware, weaponry and other assets.
As BBC international editor Jeremy Bowen points out, the decision to pull out “has preserved the lives of soldiers who might have died fighting a battle they could not win” and allowed them to be deployed elsewhere in the country.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence noted on Saturday that it was “highly likely” Russian troops destroyed road and rail bridges over the Dnipro river as part of their retreat. Images emerged on Friday of the main river crossing – the Antonivsky Bridge – having partially collapsed. It remains unclear how the damage was caused.
On Saturday morning, other images emerged showing damage to the Nova Kakhovka dam, some 58km (36 miles) north-east of Kherson city.
US satellite imagery firm Maxar tweeted that “sections of the dam and sluice gates” had been destroyed. A road and railway line both run across the dam and Maxar’s photos show that they have been severed. It is not clear what caused the damage, which the BBC has not independently assessed.
New video footage, verified by the BBC, shows a huge explosion at one end of the dam.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of planning to breach the dam with explosives, raising the threat of flooding in the Kherson region.
The withdrawal – which the UK’s Ministry of Defence suggests could have started as early as 22 October under the cover of the civilian evacuation – means Russia has lost the administrative capital of one of the four regions it illegally annexed in September.
On Saturday, Moscow announced itstemporary replacement capitalwould be a port city called Henichesk, more than 200km (125 miles) south-east of Kherson, near Russian-occupied Crimea.
Russia’s Interfax news agency says the authorities evacuated all the regional offices, as well as “statues and historic artefacts”, from the west bank of the Dnipro river – that is, from Kherson city and its surroundings. More than 115,000 people were evacuated from that area, it reports.
The UK’s Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, said the retreat from Kherson marked “another strategic failure” for Moscow.
“In February, Russia failed to take any of its major objectives except Kherson,” he said in a statement.
“Now with that also being surrendered, ordinary people of Russia must surely ask themselves: ‘What was it all for?’”
All Russian forces and equipment have been relocated to the Dnieper River’s eastern bank, according to the Russian defence ministry
Russia has completed its troop withdrawal from the western bank of the Dnieper River in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a major setback for Moscow in its nearly nine-month war in Ukraine.
According to Russian news agencies, the withdrawal was completed by 5 a.m. Moscow time (02:00 GMT) on Friday, and not a single military unit was left behind.
According to the ministry, all Russian forces and equipment have been transferred to the Dnieper’s eastern bank.
It was also stated that no personnel or equipment were lost during the withdrawal from the strategic city of Kherson.
Serhiy Khlan, a deputy for Kherson Regional Council, told a briefing many Russian soldiers had been unable to leave Kherson city after months of occupation, and had changed into civilian clothing.
Ukrainian officials were wary of the Russian pullback announced this week, fearing their soldiers could get drawn into an ambush in Kherson city, which had a pre-war population of 280,000. Military analysts also predicted it would take Russia’s military at least a week to complete the troop withdrawal.
Serhii Tamara removes debris from her son’s house, which was destroyed during a Russian attack [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]
‘No regrets’
The Kremlin remained defiant on Friday, insisting the development in no way represented an embarrassment for President Vladimir Putin. Moscow continues to view the entire Kherson region as part of Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“This is a subject of the Russian Federation. There are no changes in this and there cannot be changes,” said Peskov, adding Moscow had “no regrets” about the move.
He added the Kremlin did not regret holding festivities just a month ago to celebrate the annexation of Kherson and three other occupied or partially occupied regions of Ukraine.
Russia ordered the withdrawal on Wednesday after it said attempts to maintain its position and supply troops were “futile” in the face of a mounting Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Putin proclaimed Kherson and three other regions of Ukraine as part of Russia in a triumphal ceremony at the Kremlin on September 30. Ukraine, its Western allies, and an overwhelming majority of countries at the United Nations General Assembly condemned the annexations as illegal.
Ukrainian troops reclaimed dozens of landmine-littered settlements abandoned by Russian forces in southern Ukraine and were advancing on Kherson on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an overnight video address that Ukrainian forces had liberated 41 settlements.
Counteroffensive
Ukraine’s general staff said it was keeping its latest movements under wraps but listed 12 settlements it said had been freed as of Wednesday: one of them, Blagodatne, lies 30km (20 miles) from the centre of Kherson, a port at the mouth of the Dnieper River.
“Offensive actions in the specified direction continue,” it said. “Due to the safety of the operation, the official announcement of the results will be made later.”
Russia still has 40,000 soldiers in the region and intelligence showed its forces remained in and around the city, Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Thursday.
Having previously warned the Russian retreat might be a trap, some quarters of the Ukrainian government barely disguised their glee at the pace of the withdrawal.
“The Russian army leaves the battlefields in a triathlon mode: steeplechase, broad jumping, swimming,” Andriy Yermak, a senior presidential adviser, tweeted.
Social media videos apparently filmed by soldiers on routes towards Kherson showed villagers hugging the Ukrainian troops.
Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine with a strong position from which to expand its southern counteroffensive to other Russian-occupied areas, potentially including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.
From its forces’ new positions on the eastern bank, however, the Kremlin could try to escalate the war.
The state of the key Antonovsky Bridge that links the western and eastern banks of the Dnieper remained unclear.
Russian media reports suggested the bridge was blown up following the Russian withdrawal. Pro-Kremlin reporters posted footage of the bridge missing a large section.
But Sergey Yeliseyev, a Russian-installed official in Kherson, told the Interfax news agency “the Antonovsky Bridge hasn’t been blown up, it’s in the same condition”.
The Ukrainian armysays it has made major gains over the last day around Kherson, after Russia said it was withdrawing from the southern city.
Ukrainian troops say they have taken back the key town of Snihurivka, 50km (30 miles) to the north of Kherson.
Kyiv has also claimed big pushes on two fronts near Kherson, including advances of 7km in some places.
Russia says it has started to exit the city – its top gain in the invasion – but the process could take weeks.
Wednesday’s announcement was viewed as a major setback for Moscow’s war effort, though Ukrainian officials were sceptical – warning that the manoeuvre could be a trap.
There was no immediate evidence of any mass-scale Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
Ukraine’s commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said on Thursday that he could not confirm or deny the pull-out – but said his own forces had made important advances.
Gen Zaluzhny said his soldiershad driven forward on two fronts on the western bank of the Dnipro river – an area of land which encompasses Kherson – taking control of 12 settlements.
The 7km gains were made “during the past day”, he said, as troops advanced along a northern-eastern axis and a separate western axis.
Video footage showed soldiers being greeted by locals in a square, apparently after entering the town of Snihurivka.
Snihurivka sits at a major road junction and is a rail hub for Mykolaiv region, which borders Kherson to the north and west.
The regional administration in Mykolaiv posted on the Telegram messaging app touting “lots of good news today”.
It fuelled speculation on Thursday night that Ukrainian troops had reached the outskirts of Kherson itself, after cryptically posting a single letter – “ch” in Ukrainian.
This was taken as a possible clue that troops had reached the suburban village of Chornobayivka.
In total, Ukrainian troops have recaptured more than 40 settlements from Russian control during their advances in southern Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
It was not possible for the BBC to independently verify the details of the latest territorial gains and losses – but the reports come after weeks of steady advances from the Ukrainian military.
Kherson was the first – and only – regional capital to fall into Russian hands after it invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
From late September, it was viewed by the Kremlin as Russian territory – following so-called “referendums” in occupied areas of Ukraine that were widely discredited by the international community.
On Wednesday, Moscow said it was no longer possible to supply the city, saying it would step back from the western bank of the Dnipro – a river which bisects Ukraine.
Notably, Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take part in the televised announcement.
Ukraine’s Gen Zaluzhny said Russia was left with no option but to flee, after its supply lines were destroyed and its command systems disrupted.
Later on Thursday, Ukraine’s defence minister said it would take Russia at least a week to withdraw and that it was not easy to predict the actions of his enemy.
Jens Stoltenberg, the chief of the Nato military alliance of Western nations, said it was clear Russia was under “heavy pressure” but that it was important to see “how the situation on the ground develops”.
The UK defence secretary said Russia appeared to be setting up a defensive line on the other side of the Dnipro river using concrete installations.
Commenting on the withdrawal, Ben Wallace said that “the world shouldn’t be grateful for Russia handing back stolen property”.
A Ukrainian presidential adviser said it was too early to celebrate – accusing his enemy of wanting to turn Kherson into a “city of death” by leaving mines and plotting to shell it from afar.
That could add to the casualty count of a war which has already killed or injured 100,000 soldiers on each side and 40,000 civilians, according to the latest estimate from a senior US general.
Separately, the US has announced another $400m (£341m) military aid package for Ukraine – including Avenger air defence systems and Hawk missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier said he had also discussed defence support from the UK with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
General Sergei Surovikin, who was made Russia’s commander in Ukrainejust weeks ago, announced the planned withdrawal of his troops from Kherson on TV.
Alongside other military top brass, he confirmed Russian troops would pull back entirely from the western bank of the River Dnipro.
It is a significant blow to Russia‘s military ambitions as it faces a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Surovikin said: “I understand that this is a very uneasy decision. At the same time, we will save the lives of our servicemen and the combat capability of our troops.”
He added: “The manoeuvre of the troops will be carried out in the near future, formations and units will occupy prepared defensive lines and positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River.”
Let’s hear from political scientist Mark Galeotti now, who describes Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson as “making sense militarily” – and claims generals have wanted to do so for weeks.
Instead, President Putin has “stubbornly held on” for fear of political embarrassment, he tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
The author of Putin’s Wars: From Chechnya to Ukraine, says one of the most “striking” qualities of this war has been “Putin’s desire to micromanage” – despite having barely any military experience himself.
It isn’t yet clear whether Kherson signals a change in that – and Putinwill now let the “generals do the generaling” – or if it’s simply a one-off, Galeotti says.
But what is clear, he adds, is that after eight months there’s been a “major shift in Putin trying to win this war to trying not to lose it”.
Russianforces swept across southern Ukraine from annexed Crimea at the start of the war in February, seizing Kherson city in early March.
But yesterday the Russian defence minister ordered the withdrawal of his forces from the city, and the west bank of the Dnipro river.
Russia’s commander in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, said it was no longer possible to keep supplying the city.
Kherson has been the biggest prize in Russia’s invasion but Ukrainian forces have mounted a concerted counter offensive over recent weeks to try to recapture the city.
So this is the biggest setback yet for President Putin’s invasion.
General Sergei Surovikin stated on television that it is no longer possible to supply Kherson and other parts of the Dnipro River’s west bank.
He said: “We will save the lives of our soldiers and fighting capacity of our units.
“Keeping them on the right (western) bank is futile.
“Some of them can be used on other fronts.”
Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu responded by saying: “I agree with your conclusions and proposals.
“Proceed with the withdrawal of troops and take all measures to transfer forces across the river.”
The announcement marks one of Russia’s most significant retreats – Kherson city was seized by Russia early in the war and is the only regional capital the country has taken during the conflict, which is almost nine months old.
Mikhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said: “Ukraine does not pay attention to Russian statements – words and actions differ.”
Kherson region was annexed in September, along with three other parts of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.
Moscow-installed authorities in occupied Khersonappear to have backtracked shortly after declaring a “round-the-clock curfew” as a Ukrainian counteroffensive nears the southern city.
“In the city of Kherson there are absolutely no restrictions that would limit the life of the city,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russia-backed deputy governor of the Kherson region, said on Telegram.
Stremousov’s remarks came about an hour after he posted a video announcing the curfew on the same channel.
Russian officials say they have completed an operation to move civilians out of the southern city of Kherson ahead of an expected battle with Ukrainian forces.
At least 70,000 civilians are said to have crossed the Dnipro river, in what Ukraine has called forced deportations.
“We’re preparing Kherson for defence,” said Russian militia commander Alexander Khodakovsky.
“We’re taking the civilian population out, in many ways untying our hands.”
Ukraine’s southern Kherson region was one of four areas of Ukraine annexed by Vladimir Putin last month, despite Russia not having total control of any of them.
Kherson city was captured shortly after Russia’s invasion last February but in recent weeks Ukrainian forces have steadily recaptured territory on the west or right bank of the Dnipro. The front line is 30km (18 miles) away from the city, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russian-installed officials have warned of an assault on the regional capital in the near future. However, Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has described the counter-offensive as really difficult because of the tough terrain and rainy weather which make it harder to use fighting vehicles with wheels.
The man installed by Russia’s occupying authorities in annexed Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, posted pictures of the bank of the Dnipro on Thursday night, during a visit with a leading figure in the Kremlin, Sergei Kiriyenko.
“The work on organising the departure of residents has been completed,” he announced. Occupying authorities say they have been moved to “safe regions of Russia”, which include other areas of Ukraine under Russian control but also, reportedly, Russia itself.
The deportation or transfer of civilians by an occupying power inside or outside the occupied territory is considered a war crime.
Another Russian-appointed official admitted that many civilians had stayed. Vladimir Saldo, installed by the Russians as governor of Kherson, said 150-170,000 people were still in and around the city on the right bank of the Dnipro river. The pre-war population of the city alone was some 300,000.
One resident told the BBC last week that no-one was going anywhere and that Russian soldiers were worried how they could survive in Kherson city.
One of the most hardline backers of the war, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, admitted that a Chechen unit had suffered “big losses” in the region this week. He said 23 fighters were killed and 58 others were wounded in a Ukrainian artillery attack, but went on to claim that his forces had killed many more Ukrainians.
Ukraine’s regional leader in Kherson, Serhiy Khlan, said Kadyrov’s men were being replaced by soldiers recently called up as part of President Putin’s mobilisation drive across Russia. Fields around the regional capital were being mined, he said, and the new recruits were now acting as Russia’s first line of defence.
Ahead of any battle for Kherson city, Ukrainian officials have suggested that Russia has withdrawn its occupying authority to the town of Henichesk, some 200km to the south-east.
Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalya Humenyuk said the Russians were trying to hold on to the right bank of the Dnipro, but the fact they were preparing to defend the other side of the river too was a “telling sign they understand. the real situation – that they are unlikely to hold on to the right bank”.
We stated in the previous hour that Ukraine had hit a critical bridge near Kherson, so here’s a rundown of what’s going on in the south.
Ukrainian forces have increased pressure on Russian positions in the occupied zone, focusing on resupply routes across the Dnieper.
Ukraine has long trailed a full-scale counteroffensive on the region, hoping to take back control. The city of Kherson was one of the first urban areas captured by Moscow’s forces and remains the largest city under Russian occupation. It is a key target for both sides due to its key industries and major river port.
The region of Kherson has been illegally annexed by Russia, and Vladimir Putin imposed martial law there earlier this week in an attempt to assert Russian authority.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has targeted key crossings along the Dnieper riverto cut off Russian resupplies.
The Antonivskyi Bridge – the main route from Crimea to Russian-held territories in southern Ukraine – was struck late last night.
Russian authorities have set up ferry crossings and pontoon bridges to ferry supplies to Kherson after the bridge was made inoperable.
The Kremlin has avoided answering whether President Vladimir Putinhas ordered his military to leave Kherson.
Dmitry Peskov, Russia’s spokesman, addressed the question to the defense ministry, stating, “This question concerns the conduct of the special military operation.”
“I recommend you address it to the defence ministry.”
It comes as Russian-installed officials are evacuating tens of thousands of residents from the western side of the Dnipro river, which splits the region.
It also comes after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of planning to blow up a major dam in the region.
Meanwhile, Russia said that Ukrainian forces had killed at least four people and injured 13 in a missile attack on civilians leaving Kherson.
Mr Peskov also took a subtle dig at what he hinted was a lack of democracy involved in the process to choose a new British prime minister following the resignation of Liz Truss.
Asked about the possible return of Boris Johnsonto the top post, he said: “We do not expect insight and political wisdom from anyone in the countries of the collective West, let alone Britain.
“Especially in Britain, where people do not choose the person at the head of the executive branch, who appears as a result of internal party shake-ups.”
Residents of Kyiv have been asked to reduce their evening electricity use after a Russian missile strike knocked out a power plant near the capital.
Power was restored earlier in Ukraine, according to officials, after Russian missiles struck the electricity infrastructure.
But Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo has still called for the reduction between 17:00 and 23:00 (15:00 – 21:00 GMT), warning of possible power cuts.
The request was not confined to Kyiv.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said the populations of Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv should also save electricity.
“If this advice is ignored, we will have difficulties and it will be necessary to take out the candles,” he warned on Telegram.
Ukrenergo has urged residents to save electricity in the evening by not using energy-guzzling appliances, switching off unnecessary lighting, and doing their washing at night.
However, the BBC’s Paul Adams reports that Kyiv streets are already darker than usual at night, but “life very much goes on”.
The energy warning comes as more heavy fighting is reported north of Russian-held Kherson.
Kirill Stremousov, a Russian-appointed leader in the southern region, said Ukrainian shelling was coming from the Dudchany area, on the west bank of the Dnieper river (called Dnipro by Ukrainians).
Advancing Ukrainian forces have repeatedly bombarded bridgesover the river, aiming to cut off Russian troops in Kherson city.
Russian-installed officials in the city have urged Moscow to help transfer Kherson families to Russian cities as Ukrainian shelling intensifies.
President Vladimir Putin has declared Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia – a move condemned internationally, after hastily-organized so-called referendums in the regions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors have accused Russian soldiers of shooting and killing the chief conductor of the Kherson Music and Drama Theatre, Yuri Kerpatenko, in his home. It is widely reported in Ukrainian media, but there are few details. He is said to have refused to cooperate with the occupation authorities.
Russian oil depot fire
For two days running the governor of Belgorod, a Russian city 40km (25 miles) north of Ukraine, has reported Ukrainian cross-border shelling. One shell caused a major fire at an oil depot near the city on Saturday, Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding later that firefighters had extinguished it.
Ukrainian shelling set fire to an electricity substation in Belgorod on Friday, he reported on Telegram. In that case, too the fire was contained. Kyiv has not commented on the Russian claims, but there have been explosions in the Belgorod region previously, which Russia blamed on Ukrainian shelling.
IMAGE SOURCE,VVGLADKOV/TELEGRAM Image caption, Oil depot fire near Belgorod – pic from Governor Gladkov (Telegram)
On Friday President Putin said he saw no need for further massive missile strikes against Ukraine “for now”, on the scale of last Monday’s, which hit Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 20 civilians. Mr Putin said those strikes were retaliation for the attack that damaged Russia’s huge Kerch bridge – a key strategic link to annexed Crimea.
Another focus of fighting in the south is Zaporizhzhia – Ukrainian officials in the city say it was hit by more Russian missiles and Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones overnight. There was damage to energy facilities and industrial infrastructure there.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest – lies just south of the city, under Russian control, and repeated shelling in the area has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
The US has announced $725m (£649m) of further military aid for Ukraine, including ammunition for Himars rocket systems, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons and Humvee armoured vehicles. The US has provided more than $17bn of military aid since Russia’s 24 February invasion – by far the largest contribution among Ukraine’s Western allies.
On Ukraine’s northern border, Belarus says a new Russian militarycontingent has arrived – part of what it describes as a regional border protection force. Belarus has hosted Russian forces involved in the war in Ukraine, including those who launched an abortive assault on Kyiv. But so far it has not sent its own troops across the border.
In a sign that Russia is losing control of the territory it purports to have annexed, the government agrees to evacuate the Kherson people in response to a request from the Moscow-installed governor.
People from Ukraine’s southern Kherson region are anticipated to start arriving in Russia after a Moscow-installed administrator in the partially controlled region urged inhabitants to evacuate for their own safety.
In a sign of Moscow’s weakening hold on territory it claims to have annexed, Moscow said it would help residents evacuate amid an advancing Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Thursday.
The Russian-installed governor of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region earlier told residents to take their children and flee, after Kyiv said it had retaken five settlements in the southern region.
In a video statement on Telegram, Vladimir Saldo had publicly asked for Moscow’s help transporting civilians to safer areas.
“Every day, the cities of Kherson region are subjected to missile attacks,” Saldo said. “As such, the leadership of the Kherson administration has decided to provide Kherson families with the option to travel to other regions of the Russian Federation to rest and study.”
“We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if they wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes … go to other regions,” he said, advising people to “leave with their children”.
Residents on the west bank of the Dnieper River had priority, he said. That includes the regional capital, the only major Ukrainian city Russia has captured intact since its February 24 invasion.
Russia’s TASS news agency reported the first group of civilians fleeing from Kherson was expected to arrive in Russia’s Rostov region as soon as Friday. Others are expected to head to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.
Kherson is one of four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces that Russia this month announced it had annexed, and arguably the most strategically important. It controls both the only land route to the Crimean peninsula and the mouth of the Dnieper, the giant river that bisects Ukraine.
Since the start of October, Ukrainian forces have burst through Russia’s front lines there in their biggest advance in the south since the war began.
They have since moved rapidly along the river’s western bank, aiming to cut off thousands of Russian troops from supply lines and potential routes of retreat.
Kyiv says it has recaptured more than 400 square kilometres (155 miles) in the Kherson region in less than a week, with its forces bearing down towards the three-kilometer-long (two-mile-long) Nova Kakhovka dam that provides one of the last river crossings.
Mykolaiv, the nearest big Ukrainian-held city to Kherson, came under massive Russian bombardment on Thursday, with civilian facilities hit, local officials said.
Regional governor Vitaly Kim said the top two floors of a five-storey residential building were destroyed and the rest was under rubble. Video footage provided by state emergency services showed rescuers pulling out an 11-year-old boy who Kim said had spent six hours trapped under the destroyed building.
In the east, three Russian missiles exploded on Thursday morning near the central market in Kupiansk, a major railway junction city that Ukrainian forces recaptured during their big advance there in September.
The missiles destroyed shops, carpeting surrounding streets with glass shards, rubble, and twisted metal sheets.
‘Dangerous times’
On Thursday, NATO allies meeting in Brussels unveiled plans to jointly beef up Europe’s air defences with Patriot and other missile systems.
“We are living in threatening, dangerous times,” said German Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht at a signing ceremony where Germany and more than a dozen European NATO members committed to jointly procuring weapons for a “European Sky Shield”.
Moscow said more military aid for Kyiv made members of the US-led military alliance “a direct party to the conflict” and said admitting Ukraine to NATO would trigger a global conflict.
Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell sent a strong message to the Kremlin after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats of resorting to nuclear weapons to stem growing battlefield losses.
“Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the Member States, and the United States and NATO are not bluffing either,” Borrell said.
“Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Armywill be annihilated.”
Vladimir Saldo,the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, has urged citizens to flee, alleging daily rocket assaults by advancing Ukrainian soldiers.
He advised them to “save themselves” by going to Russia for “leisure and study,” and he requested assistance from Moscow.
His call was later backed up by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin in a message on state television.
Ukraine rejects accusations that it targets its own civilians.
Its troops have recently retaken some areas of north-western Kherson, closing in on the regional capital, Kherson city.
“The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country,” said Mr Khusnullin, who has special responsibility for southern Russia and Crimea.
“We will provide everyone with free accommodation and everything necessary.”
The first group of people from Kherson would arrive on Friday in Russia’s Rostov region, said its governor Vasily Golubev, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
“The Rostov region will accept and accommodate everyone who wants to come to us from the Kherson region,” he added.
Kyiv has been using US-supplied Himars rocket systems Among other weaponry to great effect.
It has targeted key Russian-held military targets and threatened to cut off the bulk of the occupying forces on the west bank of the Dnieper river (known as Dnipro in Ukraine).
Kherson is the only regional capital seized by Russian forces since Moscow’s invasion began on 24 February.
Ukraine’s military has been tight-lipped about its troop advances in the key region that borders Crimea – the southern Ukrainian peninsulaannexed by Moscow in 2014.
In other major developments on Thursday:
All of Ukraine – with the exception of Crimea – was for some time under air raid alert, and Russian missile strikes were reported on energy and military targets in the Kyiv region and Lviv, in the west
Two people were killed in shelling in the southern city of Mykolaiv, and dramatic footage showed a young boy being rescued from the rubble of a destroyed house, although he later died, officials said
Both Kyiv and Moscow confirmed that 20 Ukrainian service personnel were exchanged for 20 Russian soldiers – in the latest such swap
Russia accused Ukraine of hitting a residential building in the Russian border city of Belgorod
Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and proposed building a gas hub in Turkey as an alternative supply route to Europe following problems with the Nord Stream pipelines
Nato said it would provide Ukraine with dozens of jammers – transmitters used to disrupt signals – to counteract Russian and Iranian drones. The head of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, also said members had agreed to increase the protection of critical infrastructure after what he called the “sabotage” of the Nord Stream pipelines
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Saldo said many towns in the region – including the two major cities of Kherson and Nova Kakhovka – were now under daily rocket attacks by Ukrainian troops.
“Such strikes are causing serious damage,” he said, urging residents across the whole region – and especially those on the west bank of the Dnieper river – to evacuate to Russia or Crimea.
And he appealed to the government in Moscow to help organise the process. “Russia is not abandoning its people,” he stressed, using a popular saying.
Earlier this month, President Putin declared the annexation of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhiaregions in Ukraine’s south, as well as Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.
Ukraine and its Western allies condemned the move, saying it had no legal power. The Kremlin does not fully control any of the four regions.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Russian annexation attempt.
The assembly’s resolution was supported by 143 countries, while 35 states – including China and India – abstained. As well to Russia, four countries rejected the resolution – Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Nicaragua.
Although symbolic, it was the highest number of votes against Russia since the invasion.
In connection to the explosion that occurred on a crucial bridge connecting Russia and Crimea on Saturday, Russia claims to have apprehended eight persons.
Five of those detained, according to its FSB security force, were Russians, while the others were Ukrainian and Armenian.
The FSB has accused the Ukrainian security services of being behind the attack on the bridge.
The news came as explosions were reported in the Ukrainian cities of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Nikopol.
The BBC’s Hugo Bachega in Kyivsaid five explosions had been heard in Kherson, one of the largest cities under Russian occupation, while there were unconfirmed reports that the air defence system in the city had been activated.
He said it was not clear what had triggered the explosions.
The blast on the Crimea Bridge was a powerful symbolic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened the bridge in 2018, four years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
President Putin called it an “act of terrorism”, saying Ukraine’s intelligence forces had aimed to destroy a critically important piece of Russia’s civil infrastructure.
Russian forces retaliated on Monday with a wave of missile strikes across the country, including central Kyiv, killing 19 people.
Following more strikes on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged countries to hit Russia with more sanctions in response to “a new wave of terror“.
He called on the West to find new ways to apply political pressure to Russia and support Ukraine.
The calls came after he met the G7 group of nations for emergency virtual talks on Tuesday.
The bloc – which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US – promised to continue providing “financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal” support to his country “for as long as it takes”.
Nato also said it would stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary.
In another development, Polish pipeline operator Pern said it had detected a leak in one pipeline in the Druzhba system that carries oil from Russia to Europe.
The discovery follows leaks in the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines that transport Russian gas to Europe, which have been widely blamed on sabotage.
Europe is facing a severe energy crisis in the aftermath of Moscow‘s invasion of Ukraine as it tries to wean itself off Russian gas and oil.
The continent has imposed tough sanctions on Russia in an effort to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
Pern said that at this point, the causes of the leak were unknown. It was detected in a section of the pipe about 70km from the central Polish city of Plock.
Two days after the only bridge connecting Russia with the annexed Crimea was broken in an explosion, Russia fired missiles at various Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
Here are the latest developments:
Missile strikes have been reported in cities including Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, in what appears to be the most widespread set of Russian attacks since the early weeks of the war
Russia has partially reopened the bridge linking it to Crimea, which is an important supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine
Ukrainian troops have continued to progress after breaking through Russian defences in the southern Kherson region
In Donetsk, Ukrainian forces are pushing east, having taken the town of Lyman
Ukrainian cities hit in missile strikes
At least 12 Ukrainian cities have been hit in missile strikes two days after a strategically important bridge linking Russia with Crimea was damaged in a blast.
Kyiv has been targeted for the first time in months, but explosions have also been reported in Ternopil and Lviv in the west, which has so far escaped the worst of the war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has targeted energy infrastructure across the country and that energy facilities in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv are among the places hit.
Ukraine’s military commander says Russia launched 83 missiles in total.
It comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putinaccused Ukraine’s security services of attacking the Kerch bridge – although Ukrainian officials have not indicated whether their forces were behind the attack.
The 19km (12-mile) bridge, the longest in Europe, is an important supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Russia has used the bridge to move military equipment, ammunition, and personnel from Russia to battlefields in southern Ukraine.
Mr Putin described the blast as an “an act of terrorism aimed at destroying Russia’s critical civilian infrastructure”.
Russian authorities partially reopened the roadway part of the bridge hours after the attack but for light traffic only.
The railway part of the bridge – where oil tankers caught fire – has also reopened.
Ukrainian breakthrough in the south
Ukrainian troops have continued to advance after breaking through Russia’s defences on the west bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson.
They have retaken the village of Dudchany and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says Ukrainian sources report that Russian occupation authorities are moving their families from the Kherson region to Crimea.
Ukrainian troops have been attacking bridges, ferries and pontoons in recent weeks, attempting to make Russian positions on the west side of the river unsustainable, and thereby force a withdrawal.
Also in the south, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for the demilitarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russian and Ukrainian sources have accused each other of shelling close to the plant, which is Europe’s biggest nuclear facility.
Russia’s military took over the power station in early March, but it is still being operated by Ukrainian staff.
Intense fighting in the east
Ukrainian troops took control of the key logistical hub of Lyman in Donetsk more than a week ago and have continued to push further east towards the region of Luhansk.
The ISW says they have “made substantial gains” in the area.
Russian reports suggests their next target may be the city of Kreminna.
Analysts say the loss of Lyman is a major set-back for Russia.
Russian forces have been trying to push forward in Bakhmut, but reports suggest they have been repelled by Ukrainian troops.
The latest fighting follows a major Russian defeat in the east.
Ukraine says it recaptured 6,000 sq km (2,317 sq miles) of territory from Russia in early September, when it forced back Russian units in the Kharkiv region.
Russian troops withdrew from the key towns of Izyum and Kupiansk, saying that the retreat would allow its troops to “regroup”.
Both towns were major logistical hubs for Russian forces in Donbas.
Annexation of four regions
Four regions of Ukraine, that are partially or almost completely occupied byRussiaare being annexed by the Russian Federation.
It follows self-styled referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, held between 23 and 27 September.
IMAGE SOURCE,MAP SHOWING THE FOUR REGIONS OF UKRAINE – DONETSK,
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will use “all the forces and resources” it has to “liberate” the four regions.
In an address to the Russian people, Mr Putin said his country had “various weapons of destruction”, adding: “I’m not bluffing.”
The annexations follow a “partial mobilisation” of about 300,000 Russian reservists.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, but Ukrainian forces retook large areas around Kyiv in early April after Russia abandoned its push towards the capital.
Areas in the west of the country, including Lviv, have seen missile attacks but no attempt by Russian forces to take and occupy ground.
The Russianshave suffered heavy losses since the invasion began and significant quantities of Russian weaponry have also been destroyed or captured.
Even as his troops faced more blows, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the necessary documents to seize four regions of Ukraine.
The documents state that the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson areas have been “admitted into the Russian Federation.”
But in two of those areas – Luhansk and Kherson – Ukraine said it has been retaking more villages.
Mr Putin also signed a decree to formalise Russia’s seizure of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.
Last Friday, the Russian leader held a grand ceremony in the Kremlin, where he signed agreements with the Moscow-installed leaders of the four regions.
The move followed self-proclaimed referendums in the areas, denounced as a “sham” by the West.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, told the BBC on Wednesday that six villages in the region had been recaptured.
And President Zelensky later said Ukraine had liberated three more villages in the southern region of Kherson.
That followed a series of gains in Kherson the previous day, including the strategically key village of Davydiv Brid.
Meanwhile, the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was rocked by a series of huge explosions an hour or so before dawn.
Local authorities say seven Russian missiles hit residential buildings and that people are under the rubble. There has been no information on casualties so far.
The BBC’s Paul Adams, who is in the city, says rescue workers are combing through the shattered remains of an elegant five storey apartment building in the middle of the city.
Image caption, Zaporizhzhia was rocked by a series of huge explosions an hour or so before dawn on Thursday
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would retake any territory that had been lost to Ukrainian forces.
Facing questions over the recent losses, he told reporters: “There is no contradiction here. They will be with Russia forever, they will be returned.”
In a speech to teachers on Russian teachers’ day, Mr Putin said he would “calmly develop” the annexed territories.
But Andrey Kartopolov, the chairman of the State Duma defence committee, told state media that Russia needed to stop lying about what was happening on the battlefield, saying that Russians were not stupid.
Russia is still working to mobilise reservists, after Mr Putin announced a call-up last month of 300,000 people who had completed compulsory military service.
But Mr Putin has rowed back on which groups will be affected, after strong opposition and protests in Russia against the move.
He has signed a decree exempting several categories of students, including first-time students at accredited institutions, and certain types of postgraduate students – such as those in the field of science.
In another move, President Putin has signed a decree to formalise Russia’s seizure of the nuclear power plant in one of the annexed regions – Zaporizhzhia – which has been occupied by Russian troops since the early days of the war.
Russia says the plant – Europe’s largest nuclear facility – will be operated by a new company, but Ukraine’s nuclear operator has dismissed the move as “worthless”.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has said he will hold consultations with the two sides following the development.
EU member countries have agreed on another round of sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, the Czech EU presidency said on Wednesday.
We have just reached a political agreement on new sanctions against Russia – a strong EU response to Putin’s illegal annexation of 🇺🇦 territories. Written procedure follows, sanctions enter into force on publication in the Off. Journal. #EU2022CZ#COREPERII
Edita Hrda, permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, said the sanctions were in response to Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine, which the West has deemed illegitimate.
This morning we reported that Vladimir Putin had signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia.
More losses for Russia in Ukraine, this time around in Kherson – Ukraine’s long-telegraphed Kherson counter-offensive is making some headway along the western banks of the Dnipro river, between the villages of Zolota Balka and Dudchany around 100km north of Kherson.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence admitted on Monday that the Ukrainians had broken through Russian lines at Zolota Balka and Oleksandrivka but that the Russians had taken up pre-prepared defensive positions and were continuing to inflict “massive fire on the enemy”.
Our warriors from @ng_ukraine reported that the village of Zolota Balka, Kherson region, has been liberated.
russians control less territories in Ukraine each day. pic.twitter.com/zPTOsafHmv
Just four days after Russia declared all this territory theirs, it doesn’t look good for them. Plus Russian losses are appearing in the public domain, in a way that one month ago they would not have done. Russian military bloggers are documenting Russian setbacks in expanding groups of followers.
The likes of Ramzan Kadyrov, who incidentally has just announced he’ll be sending his three teenage sons to fight (including his 14-year-old), has poured criticism on the Russian military command in charge of the Lyman debacle, as has Evgeny Prigozhin who recently revealed himself to nobody’s great surprise as head of the Russian mercenary group, Wagner.
Pundits on state TV are expressingconcern at the dire state of affairs. Could this open Pandora’s box for the Kremlin, criticism which gathers pace and which it cannot control, triggering a slow unraveling?
Perhaps. It could also, intentionally or not, serve a purpose for Vladimir Putin. If his nuclear bluffs are to be taken seriously and given Russian capabilities it would be foolish not to, he needs to present a case to his people that the nuclear option is – at some point – justified.
He and his propagandists are pitching this as anexistential battle against the military might of the collective West, out to destroy and dismantle Russia.
A nuclear strike is an abhorrent option in any scenario but it makes no sense if you’re winning. With Russia losing ground though, and the outlook increasingly bleak, it might become more appealing as Vladimir Putin sees his options shrink.
DISCLAIMER: Independentghana.com will not be liable for any inaccuracies contained in this article. The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author’s, and do not reflect those of The Independent Ghana
Source: Skynews By Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent
Before the host intervenes and denies it, a pundit on Russian official television appears to have revealed that the panellists weren’t intended to bring up the liberated city of Lyman.
Maxim Yusin, a foreign policy specialist, asserts that Russians likewise think the conflict is not going well for their nation.
He says on the show: “I see the dynamics of the military action on the front.
“We aren’t talking about what is happening near Lyman.”
The host then interjects with: “Who forbade you to talk about it?”
Russian troops pulled out of the eastern city of Lyman due to the risk of being encircled by Ukraine’s forces.
Mr Yusin later said on the Russian state TV broadcast: “Ask anyone here, when they’re in the make-up room.
“I think anyone will honestly admit they don’t know whether the mobilisation will help us or not, to change the course of military actions.
“It’s easy to say ‘after the liberation of Zaporizhzhia’.
“Yeah, try liberating it, the way everything is going.”
The host Andrey Norkin also said at one stage the Ukrainians are “planning to declare war against Russia” before another pundit suggest Ukraine might start bombing Moscow.
Retired four-star US army general Barry R McCaffrey shared the video and said it shows “Russian State TV is starting to fragment.”
He continues: “Lyman a disaster for the Russians. The Kherson pocket could lose 15,000 Russian prisoners. The mobilisation a disaster. All pressures on Putin criminal action might generate a desperate reaction. He’s unravelling.”
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia would never be accepted by the UK, according to Prime Minister Liz Truss.
In advance of President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated decision to recognise the territories once occupied by Ukraine as Russian following widely condemned referendums, she released a statement on Friday morning.
She said: “Vladimir Putin has, once again, acted in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent.
“The UK will never ignore the sovereign will of those people and we will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as anything other than Ukrainian territory.
“Putin cannot be allowed to alter international bordersusing brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war.”
In a move that follows a plodding and predictable script Russia will recognise the four territories it has occupied and captured in conquest.
Under the country’s 1993 constitution there needed to be a popular vote for this to happen – hence the hurried fake referenda.
Like other autocratic police states, pseudo- legalism is of the utmost importance in Russia – we’ll hear a lot more turgid legal language today as a way of giving this international outrage a veneer of legitimacy.
Moving to annex Russia has overturned centuries of convention – that you don’t steal land with force.
Putin is also returning Europe to a period pre-WW2.
Local authorities report that a Russian missile attack on a humanitarian convoy in south Ukraine resulted in at least 23 deaths and several injuries.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, a sizable crater next to a line of automobiles bears witness to the attack’s brutality. Windscreens and windows have been broken.
The BBC observed six apparently civilians dead lying at the scene. Coats and luggage were all over the runway.
One shocked survivor told the BBC she heard at least three explosions.
Reacting to the attack in the early hours of Friday on the outskirts of the regional capital of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was a “state-terrorist”.
He said Russia launched 16 rockets on the city and vowed to punish perpetrators for “every lost Ukrainian life”.
Meanwhile, a Russian-installed local official blamed Ukraine for the attack.
The convoy was hit as people were preparing to travel to the Russian-occupied part of the region to pick up their relatives and also deliver humanitarian aid.
Near the missile’s impact crater, the BBC spoke to Kateryna Holoborod, who sat on her suitcase in a state of shock.
‘We arrived in a line, to join a column going towards Kherson,” she said.
“We dropped to the ground. Then the second one hit in the centre of the queue. There was glass everywhere, and people screaming and running. I don’t remember much.
“It was very scary. I then got up to see what happened, and help the injured. I tried to help an injured young man when the third explosion happened.”
Image caption, Ukraine said the attack was “another terrorist act” by Russia
The attack comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a signing ceremony in Moscow to annex Zaporizhzhia along with Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions.
The move follows self-styled referendums in the eastern and southern regions, which have been condemned by Ukraine and the West as a sham.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, and Moscow currently controls the majority of the Zaporizhzhia region, including Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant there – but not the regional capital.
Moscow-installed regional official Vladimir Rogov blamed “Ukrainian militants” for the Zaporizhzhia attack, Russian state-run media reported.
IMAGE SOURCE,DNIPROPETROVSK REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION Image caption, A Ukrainian transport company in Dnipro was hit in overnight Russian strikes, local officials said
In a separate development, one person was killed and five injured in overnight Russian strikes by Iskander missiles on the central city of Dnipro, about 70km (43 miles) north of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said.
They said a transport company was targeted, and as many as 52 buses were burnt and another 98 damaged.
Several high-rise buildings, offices and a shop were also hit.
Compared to its accomplishments in the northeast, Ukraine’s progress in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia has been far more constrained.
As both Russia and Ukraine try to advance, front-line positions are frequently fired upon.
Abdujalil Abdurasulov of the BBC was able to visit the front lines in Kherson, where Ukrainian men have been warned that they may be recruited to fight for the Russian army.
An old Soviet self-propelled howitzer called Gvozdika or “Carnation” is rolled out in an open field and put into position. Its barrel tilts up. “Fire!” comes the command.
The gunners hastily move away after the last shot, acting quickly.
Although the advance of Ukrainian forces in the south is very slow, their artillery units remain busy.
Stus, commander of the gunners, explains that the Russians target his infantry and they respond in order to silence them.
Their job is very much felt at the front line. Soldiers walk across the vast field under the cover of a line of trees. They pay no attention to the sound of missiles flying above their head nor the thud of explosions. The fighters say a Russian observation post is 500m away and they might be within the range of small arms.
The Ukrainians move quickly to reach a destroyed farm building that they took back just a week ago. Now, they are digging trenches and carrying sandbags in order to fortify their new position.
Image caption, Stus, commander of the gunners, says troops “shouldn’t underestimate our enemy”
But Ukraine’s advancement in the south is moving slowly.
All talk about counter-offensive here helps to deceive Russians and achieve gains in the East, laughs Vasyl, a deputy commander of the regiment.
“But we have some success here as well. We continue liberating villages with small steps but it’s very difficult – every victory we have is covered with blood,” he adds.
Many Ukrainians who remain behind the Russian front line, in the occupied territories, are anxiously waiting for this counter-offensive.
“We’re euphoric when Ukraine hits the occupied territories,” says Iryna, a resident of Melitopol in the south. “It means that Ukraine has not forgotten us. We all know that living near military infrastructure and buildings is not safe, so most civilians have moved out from those locations.”
But for people in the occupied territories, the longer they wait, the harder it is to survive. Many believed that the counter-offensive would happen in August. But when that didn’t happen, people started to flee to Ukrainian-controlled territories and areas further to the West.
Among them was Tatyana Kumok from Melitopol. The Israeli citizen was visiting her hometown when the Russian invasion started in February. She stayed in the city and distributed aid to residents but in September, she and her family decided to leave. One of the main reasons for leaving was Russia’s promise to hold a so-called referendum.
“As soon as it’s done, the Russians will introduce new bans according to their laws and try to legitimize the occupation,” she says.
With the city turned into a giant military base, she says it is clear that Russian troops won’t abandon the city easily.
“It was obvious the city won’t be liberated this fall,” she adds.
IMAGE SOURCE, TATYANA KUMOK Image caption, Tatyana Kumok, and her family fled Melitopol just before Russia decided to hold a so-called referendum
Even a silent resistance to Russian occupation is getting dangerous now.
In September many families were forced to send their children to Russian-administered schools even though their children would be exposed to the Kremlin’s propaganda.
“If you don’t send your child to school, it’s a litmus test for you – it means you have pro-Ukrainian views,” explains Ms Kumok. “I know parents who had to tell their seven-year-old child not to talk about things discussed at home with anyone at school. Otherwise, the child could be taken away. That was really awful.”
IMAGE SOURCE, EPA Image caption, Children at a newly opened nursery in Russian-occupied Berdyansk of Zaporizhia region
The crackdown on people who do not support Russian rule is rising.
“There is a sharp increase of arrests since August following the successful Ukrainian air strikes,” says Bohdan who is still living in Kherson. He spoke with the BBC via a messenger app and his real name is not being revealed for his safety.
Bohdan says that earlier detentions were based on a list of names that the Russian military had. But now anyone can be arrested and thrown into a basement for interrogation.
Russian soldiers recently came to the house of Hanna (not her real name) in Nova-Kakhovka, a city in the Kherson region, to check who was living there.
“They didn’t go inside the house but it was still scary. I don’t even walk with my phone now,” she said via a messenger app.
IMAGE SOURCE, EPA Image caption, A woman in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia casts her ballot during voting in a so-called referendum
The self-styled referendum is bringing a new threat to the local population – mobilization. Many men could be drafted to fight for the Russian army.
Russian soldiers are already going house to house in some villages and writing down the names of male residents, local residents say. They claim soldiers have told them to be ready for a call-up after the referendum.
Men aged 18-35 are reportedly not allowed to leave the occupied territories anymore.
Iryna left on 23 September, the first day of the so-called referendum, with her husband and two children. They wanted to stay in order to look after her paralysed 92-year-old grandmother.
“But when Putin announced the call-up, and we already knew about the referendum, it was clear there would be a mass mobilization and men would be detained right on the street irrespective of their age,” she says.
“We could survive without gas and electricity, we could find solutions for that. But not for this. That was our red line,” says Iryna.
Image caption, Vasyl, a deputy commander in the Ukrainian army says “every victory we have is covered with blood”
The Russian call-up will pose more challenges for the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
It will certainly escalate the war and more people will die, Ukrainian soldiers say.
“We shouldn’t underestimate our enemy,” says Stus, commander of the gunners. “Those newly recruited Russian soldiers will have guns and grenades, so they will pose a threat, which we will have to eliminate”.
As the gunners wait for new tasks with their howitzer hidden in the bushes, Russian troops hit a nearby Ukrainian village with Grad missiles. The gunners are silent as they listen to the series of explosions.
That terrifying sound was just another reminder that the success of the Ukrainian troops willdepend on how quickly they can make Russian artillery and rocket launchers go silent.
Tuesday marks the penultimate day of a vote for regions of Ukraine controlled by Russia, which the government in Kyiv and its Western allies call a fraud.
Nearly four million people from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, are being asked to attend polling stations and vote in so-called referendums on joining Russia.
This follows four days of early voting during which allegations of intimidation multiplied as election officials went house to house accompanied by armed guards.
If Russia absorbs these regions, making up about 15% of Ukraine’s territory, it could take the war to a new and more dangerous level, with Moscow portraying any attempt by Ukraine to regain them as an attack on its sovereign territory.
There is now speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin may announce the four regions’ annexation in a speech to a joint session of Russia’s parliament on Friday.
In March 2014 he announced that Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula had been annexed just a few days after a likewise unrecognised referendum was held.
‘At gunpoint’
Were the guns there to protect you as you voted, or to cow you into voting? That was a question passing through people’s minds in recent days as election officials escorted by soldiers come to knock on their doors.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor-in-exile of the Luhansk region, accused the separatist authorities there of taking down the names of people who voted against joining Russia or who refused to vote at all.
Talking separately to the Associated Press news agency, he suggested the Russians were using the process as a pretext to search homes for men they could mobilise as soldiers as well as checking for “anything suspicious and pro-Ukrainian”.
One woman described for BBC News how her parents had voted in the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Two local “collaborators” had arrived with two Russian soldiers at their flat to give them a ballot paper to sign, she said.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Soldiers are escorting electoral workers going door to door in Donetsk
“My dad put ‘no’ [to joining Russia],” the woman said. “My mum stood nearby and asked what would happen for putting ‘no’. They said, ‘Nothing’. Mum is now worried that the Russians will persecute them.”
Another woman in the embattled town of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is located, told the BBC: “You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it.”
Ukrainian journalist Maxim Eristavi tweeted to say that his family had been “forced to vote at gunpoint” in southern Ukraine.
“They come to your house,” he wrote. “You have to openly tick the box for being annexed by Russia (or for staying with Ukraine if you feel suicidal). All while armed gunmen watch you.”
Petro Kobernik, who left Kherson just before the voting began, told AP in an interview by phone: “The situation is changing rapidly, and people fear that they will be hurt either by the Russian military, or Ukrainian guerrillas and the advancing Ukrainian troops.”
The vote on paper
The questions on the ballot papers (there is no digital voting) differ according to region.
This is because pro-Russian separatists have been running parts of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014 when they held unrecognized independence referendums.
Voters, there are being asked whether they “support their republic’s accession to Russia as a federal subject”.
In the parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia occupied by Russian forces since the invasion in February, people are being asked if they “favour the region’s secession from Ukraine, creation of an independent country and subsequent accession to Russia as a federal subject”.
The ballot papers there are printed in both Ukrainian and Russian whereas in the eastern regions they are printed in Russian only.
Voting was spread over five days to allow for ballots to be “organized in communities and in a door-to-door manner for security reasons”, Russian state news agency Tass reports.
Refugees now scattered across Russia can vote in as many as 200 polling stations there.
Not only have Ukrainian forces been pushing the Russians and their separatist allies back in both the east and south, but attacks on figures associated with the Russian occupation have mounted.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, People voted at a polling station in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don
Former Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Zhuravko, who championed the Russian invasion, was killed along with another person in a missile attack on a hotel in Kherson on Sunday.
Reports say that Russian journalists who were also staying at the hotel escaped uninjured.
In the city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the deputy head of the city administration and his wife who headed the city election commission were killed in an attack a week before the referendum.
Members of a guerrilla group called the Yellow Band have spread leaflets threatening anyone who votes and urging others to send photos and videos of anyone who does in order to track them down later, AP reports.
The guerrillas have also sent around phone numbers of election commission chiefs in the Kherson region, asking activists to “make their life unbearable”, the agency reports.
Ukraine has threatened anyone organizing or supporting the so-called referendums with eventual criminal prosecution, saying they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
International outcry
Even Serbia, which has close ties with Moscow and is one of the few European countries not to join sanctions on Russia, has announced it will not recognise the results of the voting.
Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said that to do so would be “completely contrary” to his country’s policy of “preserving territorial integrity and sovereignty and… commitment to the principle of inviolability of borders”.
But in the face of international opposition, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted that the votes were “the expression of the will” of the people who lived in the regions.
Kremlin authorities say Ukrainian soldiers killed two persons, including a former member of parliament, in a missile attack on a hotel located in Kherson.
Oleksiy Zhuravko, a pro-Russian former politician from Ukraine, was alleged to have perished in the strike by a regional official.
Kirill Stremousov said in a statement that Ukrainian armed forces fired a missile on the Play Hotel by Ribas at 05:30 (03:30 BST) on Sunday.
Kyiv has not responded to the claims.
The Russian-installed administration said in a post on Telegram that this “was a planned terrorist act”, adding that the building of the hotel was not used for military purposes.
The statement said that two people were killed in the attack according to “preliminary information”.
The authorities said journalists from Russian media were in the hotel when the missile struck, news agency AFP reports. These claims could not be independently verified.
A representative of the law enforcement agencies in the region was quoted by the TASS news agency as saying that the attack “was clearly carried out with the help of Nato representatives, according to their intelligence and on their tip”.
Rescue workers were said to be combing the rubble in search of victims at the hotel, located in the center of the southern Ukrainian city.
The strike comes as Kherson – one of the first places to come under Moscow’s control after the invasion – is taking part in a so-called referendum, asking people if they want to join Russia. As well to Kherson, people in Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia have also been casting their ballots since Friday and voting is due to finish on Tuesday.
The West and Kyiv have condemned the votes as “shams” and pledged not to recognize their results. There have also been reports of armed Russian soldiers going door-to-door to collect votes.
The votes come after Ukrainian forces launched a large-scale counter-offensive in the south. Last month, Ukraine’s military said it had broken through Russia’s first line of defence.
Armed soldiers have reportedly gone door-to-door in Ukraine’s seized regions to solicit votes for sham “referendums” on joining Russia.
“You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it,” one woman in Enerhodar told the BBC.
In southern Kherson, Russian guardsmen stood with a ballot box in the middle of the city to collect people’s votes.
The door-to-door voting is for “security”, Russian state media says.
“In-person voting will take place exclusively on 27 September,” Tass reported. “On the other days, voting will be organized in communities and in a door-to-door manner.”
One woman in Melitopol told the BBC that two local “collaborators” arrived with two Russian soldiers at her parents’ flat, to give them a ballot to sign.
“My dad put ‘no’ [to joining Russia],” the woman said. “My mum stood nearby and asked what would happen for putting ‘no’. They said, ‘Nothing’.
“Mum is now worried that the Russians will persecute them.”
The woman also said there was one ballot for the entire apartment block building, rather than per person.
Experts say the self-styled referendums, taking place across five days, will allow Russia to claim – illegally – four occupied or partially-occupied regions of Ukraine as their own.
In other words, a false vote on annexation, seven months into Russia’s invasion.
The self-styled “annexation” could lead to Russia claiming that its territory is under attack from Western weapons supplied to Ukraine, which could escalate the war further.
British Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said the UK had evidence that Russian officials had already set targets for “invented voter turnouts and approval rates for these sham referenda”.
Mr Cleverly said Russia planned to formalize the annexation of the four regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia – by the end of the month.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, Ballot boxes being guarded by armed soldiers in Luhansk
A source in Kherson told the BBC there was no public effort to encourage voting, apart from an announcement on the Russian news agency that people can vote at a port building, which had been disused for 10 years.
Another woman in Kherson said she saw “armed militants” outside the building where the vote seemed to be taking place. She pretended to forget her passport, so she didn’t have to vote.
The woman said all her friends and family were against the referendum. “We don’t know how our life will be after this referendum,” she said. “It is very difficult to understand what they want to do.”
Kyiv says the referendums will change nothing, and its forces will continue to push to liberate all of the territories.
IMAGE SOURCE,REX/SHUTTERSTOCK Image caption, These women in Luhansk voted in a converted bus
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent mobilisation of at least 300,000 extra troops has caused many Russian men of fighting age to flee.
One young Russian man who left St Petersburg for Kazakhstan to avoid the draft told BBC World Service that most of his friends were also on the move.
Four seized regions of Ukraine are being held over by Russian-backed officials, who are holding so-called referendums on joining Russia.
These so-called elections, which have been denounced as invalid and fraudulent by Ukraine and the West, are being held over the course of five days in four front-line regions: two in the east and two in the south.
An annexation could lead to a claim by Russia that its territory is coming under attack from Western weapons supplied to Ukraine.
This could escalate the war further.
What is going on and why now?
Seven months after Russia’s invasion began, Vladimir Putinis on the back foot. Ukraine’s counter-offensive has recaptured swathes of territory seized since the 24 February invasion.
A vote on annexation is one of three steps taken by the Kremlin in an attempt to reset the war.
By annexing another 15% of sovereign Ukraine, Russia will be able to claim its territory is under attack from weapons provided by Nato and other Western countries to Ukraine. By calling up 300,000 extra troops, it can defend a front line of 1,000km (620 miles). The Kremlin has also criminalized desertion, surrender and going absent without leave during mobilization.
If Russia’s leader annexing territory sounds familiar, it is. When he ordered troops to seize Crimea in 2014, he followed it up with a vote rejected as an illegitimate sham by the international community.
This latest event has also been denounced as illegal by many Western countries, including international monitoring groups, the OSCE, and Russian media have already said that a Yes-vote is beyond doubt.
It is taking place over five days in Russia’s two proxy areas in Luhansk and Donetsk in the east, and in occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.
What makes these votes a sham?
We have already seen how Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. While the Kremlin claimed 96.7% support, a leaked report from Russia’s Human Rights Council said only around 30% had voted and barely half supported annexation.
Not a shot had been fired in Crimea, and yet in this latest case voting is expected to take place in the middle of a war.
The four regions involved are either partially or completely under occupation.
In the south, the city of Kherson is not a safe place right now, with Russian soldiers struggling to hold back a big Ukrainian counter-offensive. The central administration building was hit by a series of missiles only last week.
A secure vote is impossible, and yet officials talk of 750,000 people registered and plans to incorporateoccupied parts of another Ukrainian region, Mykolayiv, into the annexed area.
Russian media reported that elected officials would go from door-to-door with portable ballot boxes from Friday to Monday.
Polling stations will only operate on the fifth day, 27 September, with officials citing security reasons.
Hundreds of stations are scheduled to open that day, with voters also able to cast ballots in regions outside their own – and refugees eligible to vote in parts of Russia itself.
Then there’s Zaporizhzhia’s capital, which remains securely in Ukrainian hands, so any vote to annex that region makes little sense.
Donetsk in the east is only 60% under Russian occupation and very much at the heart of the conflict.
Russia does control most of Luhansk in the northeast even if it has begun to lose ground. Russian news agencies showed flyers being handed out entitled “Russia is the future”.
Much of the pre-war population has fled the conflict. The head of Russia’s proxy authority in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, ordered a mass evacuation days before the invasion.
Russian-backed leaders have been keen to stage votes for several months, but the decision to hold the vote was taken just three days in advance and smacks of desperation.
There will be no independent observers. Much of the voting will be online, although officials have promised extra security at polling stations.
What will change?
Ukrainian defense ministry adviser Yuriy Sak told the BBC the so-called referendums were doomed. “We are seeing that local populations are all in favour of returning to Ukraine, and this is why there’s so much guerrilla movement resistance in these territories.”
In any event, Kyiv says nothing will change and its forces will continue to push to liberate the territories.
Russia analyst Alexander Baunov says merely redefining the occupied areas as Russian territory is unlikely to stop Ukraine’s army, but it does send a message of intent to the populations under their control. And the Kremlin’s hope is that the West will balk at having its weapons fired at land declared by Moscow as Russian.
Alarmingly President Putin has spoken of using all means at his disposal “to protect Russia”. And in case there was any doubt at all. the deputy head of Russia’s security council, Dmitry Medvedev, made clear that nuclear weapons could also be used to protect annexed territories.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of a“dangerous escalation”, but reaffirmed Washington’s position that no Russian claim to Ukrainian soil could take away Ukraine’s right to defend itself.
Even Turkey, which has sought to play a mediating role, has damned the vote as illegitimate.
Russia has been trying to change the southern Ukraine city of Kherson into one of its own, but strikes by US-supplied HIMARS missiles have helped cut off the city from its supply lines. Insiders say the signs are that a Ukrainian counterattack is imminent.
The city of Kherson, on the banks of the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, was taken by Russian forces without much fight in early March, days after the invasion started.
It remains Russia‘s biggest victory in the war and still one of the only major cities that its forces have managed to capture.
In recent weeks, however, Ukrainian forces have struck three key bridges over the river, making them virtually impassable for heavy vehicles – the aim being to slowly strangle Russian supply lines and cut off thousands of soldiers in the city.
Ukraine ‘kills 200 Russians in a day’ – war latest
A full-on Ukrainian counteroffensive is thought to be imminent.
Making contact with anyone still trapped in Kherson is hard – most people are understandably either too frightened to take the risk, or simply do not have a phone or internet connection with the outside world.
Ukrainian mobile phone networks have been shut down and replaced with insecure Russian equivalents that are bugged and do not allow international calls
