After eight and a half months of Russian occupation, the Ukrainian forces were welcomed with emotion by the population of this city in the south of the country.
by Rémy Ourdan (Kherson, Special Envoy)
The fog of the dawn still envelops Kherson when the first inhabitants appear place of freedom. They are only twenty first. Few of them have had the privilege of participating in the first celebrations for the liberation of the city, the previous evening, dancing around a brazier. Others, in Kherson cut off from the world, have yet had a distant and uncertain echo of the historic event of November 11, by stories of neighbors, or because they saw, in their street, a column of Russian soldiers leaving or Ukrainian fighters enter town.
The first visual confirmation of the reconquest of Kherson by the kyiv armed forces, for these people who did not have access to televisions or social networks in the night, is, Saturday November 12 at dawn, this Ukrainian flag planted, place de la Liberté, in front of the deserted building of the regional administration. It floats in the wind on what was a monument dedicated to the heroes of the Maidan revolution, destroyed by the Russian forces from the first days of military occupation.
There are also these four police officers in faction around a van, who seem to be wondering what they do there, alone at this morning hour, in a city whose Ukrainian staff fears that It is still infested with Russian plainclothes agents, or Moscow soldiers having missed the time of departure before the bridges connecting it to the other bank of the dniepr is cut. = “Data: Image/SVG+XML,%3CSVG%20xmlns = ‘http: //www.w3.org/2000/svg’%20viewbox=’0%200%20664%20443’%3e%3C/svg%3e “Data-Srcset =” https://img.lemde.fr/2022/11/13/0/0/5600/4000/1328/0/45/0/1cc4245_1668318687668-raf-017.jpg 1328W, https:/ /img.lemde.fr/2022/11/13/0/0/5600/4000/664/0/75/0/1cc4245_166831868768768-raf-017.jpg 664W “Data-Sizes =” (Min-Width: 768px) 664px, 100vw “alt =” residents welcome Ukrainian soldiers on Place de la Liberté, in Kherson, November 12, 2022. ” Width = “664” height = “443”>
A first military jeep appears in the fog. Three special forces commandos emerge, bearded, the features drawn. Immediately caught up in the inhabitants, entwined, congratulated, they quickly find a smile that may have disappeared over the months of fierce fighting. The three fellows, certainly masters of their emotions, seem almost surprised by the intensity of the reception, by the gestures and words of these Ukrainians who cling to them as we would cling, after a long time in apnea, to a life buoy.
“surreal”
“Are you real?!” Asks them a woman. She wants to touch them, kiss them. A merchant brings yellow and blue ribbons – the colors of Ukraine – of her haberdashery. People ask soldiers to write a word with black felt, then roll them up around their wrists or pin them to their coats. On the other side of the square, men hoist a flag on the roof of Ukraine cinema. “These Ukrainian flags everywhere, I do not believe my eyes,” a lady moves.
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