KHERSON, Ukraine — The road to Kherson, littered with burned tanks and vehicles, is at one point rendered impassable by a collapsed bridge, requiring an expedited dirt route. The post-apocalyptic landscape surrounding the recently liberated Ukrainian city is hardly surprising, considering that until about a week ago this otherwise unremarkable countryside was one of the most fiercely contested pieces of land on Earth. Almost every building on both sides of the street shows some signs of battle damage. At least half of them have been completely destroyed. Every once in a while the ruined villages show signs of life — smoke from chimneys or sheets of plastic replacing broken windows left by months of shelling. In the extremely flat surrounding fields, numerous Russian 220mm rockets, fired on 16 BM-27 Hurricane multiple rocket launchers, are embedded in the earth, dotting the sky like deadly scarecrows. Depending on the exact munitions fired, each rocket can scatter up to 312 anti-personnel mines or 30 cluster bombs, leaving the surrounding farmland littered with unexploded ordnance that will likely take years, possibly decades, to fully clear. It is a laborious and dangerous process that Ukrainian technicians had already begun. Ukrainian deminers work to clear fields outside the city of Kherson of landmines and unexploded ordnance. (Danylo Antoniuk for Yahoo News) In central Kherson, celebrations were still underway days after the city was officially retaken by the Ukrainian army from the Russian invaders. Kherson was the first and only provincial capital captured by the Russians after their February 24 invasion. It is the capital of one of the four regions solemnly and illegally “annexed” by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Last week, Putin’s forces retreated across the Dnipro River on the right bank, blowing up the main bridge in an effort to “preserve the lives of [their] soldiers,” as Russian commander General Sergei Surovikin put it. Ukrainians draped in blue and yellow flags asked anyone dressed in camouflage – and many who weren’t – to sign their names to their flags, like soccer fans trying to get the whole team to sign a replica shirt. An antique Ukrainian car, with a large flag waving outside its window, circled the square, blasting German electronic dance music from its open windows. The story continues The music did little to drown out the sounds of incoming and outgoing artillery at relatively close range, but that didn’t dampen the carnival atmosphere in the square. Local residents, having lived with the sound and fury of modern warfare for the past nine months, seemed completely unfazed by the relatively constant landing of Russian shells and sharper responses from Ukrainian return fire. The resistance in Kherson began immediately after the Russian occupation. Videos made at the start of the war show townspeople staring at Russian tanks and armed soldiers, who often appeared more frightened than the population rather than the other way around. As the New York Times reports, teachers in Kherson refused orders to have their students sing the Russian national anthem at the start of classes, shouting “Glory to Ukraine!” Instead. Flags, signs and floral tributes left in front of the regional state administration of Hersonissos. (Danylo Antoniuk for Yahoo News) In front of the regional administration building, the Ukrainian government had installed a cellular network, connected to a SpaceX Starlink Internet satellite system, to provide a network reception bubble for a few blocks. The generators provided power to charge devices, allowing Kherson’s remaining residents to communicate with friends and family in the outside world, the first opportunity many of them would have for weeks, perhaps months. The city’s electricity, water and heating systems are almost entirely out of order, destroyed by the Russians as they retreated. The Ukrainian government is attempting to restore all services in the city, approving a $2.7 million reconstruction package on Tuesday. “We must start reconstruction in the liberated territories of the Kherson region as soon as possible,” Ukrainian Finance Minister Yulia Svyridenko said in a statement. “First of all, restore damaged vital objects and provide people with electricity and heat.” The 656-foot Kherson TV Tower, the tallest structure in the region and a feature of the city’s skyline for the past two decades, was one of the latest casualties of Russia’s scorched-earth campaign and one of many examples of civilian infrastructure destroyed by the forces who were retreating days before fleeing across the Dnipro. Destroyed buildings and abandoned Russian battle positions on the outskirts of Kherson. (Danylo Antoniuk for Yahoo News) A wide range of volunteers and aid organizations, mainly Ukrainians but also from around the world, had joined to help the relief effort. Yahoo News saw a Western aid organization donating a British ambulance and dispensing a variety of medicine to the waiting crowds. It was a haphazard process, with an American volunteer handing out medicine to anyone who said they needed it. Evidence that Kherson was until recently an unwilling part of what Putin considers his sovereignty is everywhere. Countless large billboards supporting a “yes” vote in Russia’s referendum in the region in September display propaganda extolling the benefits of “re-joining” Russia. Many are now defaced or destroyed, but many that were far from the locals remain intact. Locals confirmed to Yahoo News that Russian soldiers forced their way into their homes and forced them to participate in the referendum at gunpoint. “Thank God we are free,” said one emotional resident, who was wrapped in a Ukrainian flag and declined to give her name, before mocking the results of the organized referendum. “Kherson is not a treacherous city. Oh, whatever they say.” A girl in Kherson is wrapped in the Ukrainian flag, signed by members of the Ukrainian army. (Danylo Antoniuk for Yahoo News) Echoing events reported earlier, residents in Kherson told Yahoo News of infighting among the different ethnic groups and factions that made up the Russian forces. Regular members of the Russian army from the Buryat minority are said to have exchanged fire with Chechen auxiliaries. In another reported incident, first reported by Yahoo News in late August, contract soldiers and members of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) managed to engage in a deadly firefight that left at least three soldiers dead. Some Russian soldiers are reportedly still hiding in the city. On the outskirts of Kherson, Yahoo News witnessed the arrest of a man the Ukrainian military believed to be a Kremlin soldier who was wearing civilian clothes to avoid detection. He was chased away, blindfolded and handcuffed by a Ukrainian soldier. For him, at least, the war was over.
