An artillery team takes us on a mission down a road that is scarred and littered with the debris from months of brutal fighting. On our way, we pass a recently destroyed Russian army truck. Russia reacts to the “great humiliation” of the Putin-Ukraine war lately But you can still see the load of looted goods in the back – fridges, freezers and other white goods. They soon arrive at the launch site about 20 km from the port and the soldiers quickly jump into action. Grad missiles scream across the sky – burning their deadly signature and screeching towards their target. Ukrainian troops are continuing the pressure after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that Kremlin forces were falling back on the eastern side of the Dnipro River. It is a major defeat. Thousands of soldiers possibly trapped It is estimated that there could still be thousands of Russian soldiers in the west bank. They are potentially trapped. But many of their sites – along the way we see shallow dugouts – are now deserted. Ukrainian firepower pushed them out of that area. Artur, whose parents are still trapped in the occupied city of Kherson, hopes that it won’t be long before they are reunited. “Now our infantry is clearing the villages of the remnants of the Russian troops, which have already begun the active phase of retreat,” he said. “However, they are not retreating completely and on a large scale, they are also resisting as before, but with a smaller number of people.” Image: Artur “Everything was shot, from the leg to the head” Ukraine’s progress has been hampered by mines and blown bridges, but they are winning here on the southern front. Videos on social media show soldiers in newly liberated areas – the Ukrainian flag proudly displayed. But even as new parts are liberated, they still struggle to grasp the full horror of the Russian occupation. I meet Volodymyr in a village and he shows me where he buried his uncle while the Russians were in control. Image: Volodymyr in Kherson, Ukraine Ukrainian war crimes investigators have now exhumed the body. He tells me he was shot several times by Russian soldiers. “He was lying on the bed. His right side had been shot. Everything was shot, from the leg to the head. The whole right side,” he explained. Read more: Inside an abandoned Russian camp’The enemy brings us no gifts’Briton died fighting in Ukraine There are so many stories like this. The pathologist at the morgue where Volodymyr’s uncle was taken says the extensive evidence of war crimes is clear. “These bodies come to us with signs of violent death – debris, bullet wounds. There are a lot of bodies.” And as more parts are released, more atrocities are expected to be revealed, but there is still a long way to go in this fight, even though victory here on this southern front may not be far off.
