The regional capital celebrates its release by Ukrainian forces after eight months of occupation. By withdrawing, the Russian army avoids a Berezina and is preparing to defend its positions on the left bank of the Dniepr this winter.
by Emmanuel Grynszpan
Russian troops withdrew, on Friday, November 11, from the right bank of the Dniepr river, sealing a major military defeat for Vladimir Putin and his regime. The arrival of Ukrainian soldiers in this area gave rise to the same day to jubilation scenes in the freed villages and in the port of Kherson (250,000 inhabitants before the invasion), the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russia had succeeded to occupy in almost nine months of fierce fighting.
Photos and videos emerging from Kherson and the surrounding region show Ukrainian flags hoisted on administrative buildings, horny cars, torn prorussian posters and residents welcoming the first Ukrainian soldiers, by hooking them and offering them flowers. “Long live the ZSU [acronym of the Ukrainian army],” chanted the crowd gathered on the Place de la Liberté, in front of the regional administration.
A fervor to comply with the figure of 87 % of inhabitants favorable to an “attachment of the Kherson region to the Russian Federation”, displayed by Russia as the result of the illegal referendum organized on September 28, to pose A varnish of legitimacy on military annexation. After taking Kherson, the Russian soldiers had faced hostile demonstrations, until they were brutally repressed.
“Kherson was twice luck: February 24 and November 11, tells a resident of Kherson in the world, via encrypted messaging. We have avoided the fate of Marioupol, and the city was released without losses civil, what we would have struggled to imagine a few days ago. Of course, the tests are not over, but today is the party! “This resident, who prefers to silence his name, says that Life is “very trying in recent days because of the shortage of electricity. Drinking water has become difficult to find, bread too. Difficult to recharge your phone, you have to do it in the car. The Russians have done Skip communications, so more wifi. We capture a little network in certain places in the city, sometimes the Russian network, sometimes the Ukrainian network. It is very difficult to have news from the outside world. ” >
kyiv doubts that the evacuation is complete
Unlike previous Russian pensions in the north and east of Ukraine, the withdrawal of the right bank of the Dniepr and the city of Kherson seems to have taken place in order. In the wake of the announcement of retirement on Thursday by the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Choigou, many experts had predicted a Berezina.
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