During his first trip to the regional capital of Kherson after it was recaptured by Ukrainian troops, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said his forces would continue to fight and liberate the occupied territory.
The regional governor told the president during a meeting that work was underway to restore critical infrastructure in the city.
Ukrainian and Russian forces traded fire on Monday from across the broad expanse of the Dnipro River that now divides them after Russia’s retreat from the southern city of Kherson, reshaping the battlefield with a victory that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky said marked “the beginning of the end of the war”.
The Dnipro has become the new frontline in southern Ukraine, and officials there warned of continued danger from fighting in regions that have already endured months of Russian occupation.
Throughout the afternoon, artillery fire picked up in the southern district of the city near the destroyed Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro, stroking fears that the Russian army would retaliate following the loss of the city.
Zelensky said fierce fighting was taking place in the country’s easy. Russian troops continued their attempts to advance near the cities of Bakhmut and Avidiyivka in the Donetsk region, but their attacks have been repelled.
Yaroslav Yanushevych, the regional governor of Kherson, said at a meeting with Zelensky that state power operator Ukrenergo was working round the clock to restore supplies to the city, where between 70,000 and 80,000 people now live.
“We hope electricity supply will resume in the near future,” he said according to a statement posted on the presidential website.
Yanushevych urged the tens of thousands of remaining residents in the city to evacuate while Ukrainian forces worked to clear land mines, hunt down Russian soldiers left behind and restore essential services.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Daily Maverick, The New York Times, image from Twitter: @Maks_NAFO_Fella
