Incoming and outgoing artillery fire continued to erupt around Kherson’s international airport, and police said they were setting up checkpoints in and around the city and scanning for mines left behind by the Russians. The mayor said the humanitarian situation was “serious” due to a lack of water, medicine and bread in the city where residents celebrated their liberation in what President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called a “historic day” on Friday. In the small village of Klapaya, about 10 km from the center of Kherson, Nataliya Porkhunuk, 66, and Valentyna Buhailova, 61, stood at the edge of a rutted track holding bunches of freshly cut flowers, smiling and waving at passing vehicles carrying Ukrainian soldiers . . “We became 20 years younger in the last two days,” Buhailova said, just before a Ukrainian soldier jumped out of a small truck and embraced the couple. Outside the village of Chornobayivka, near Kherson, a Reuters reporter saw incoming Russian fire that looked like cluster munitions at the nearby airport. A volley of outgoing fire followed shortly after from the Ukrainian side. Reuters reporters turned back from soldiers near the outskirts of Kherson and were told it was too dangerous to go any further. One police officer was injured during the demining of one of Kherson’s administrative buildings, police said. “The city has a critical shortage, mainly of water,” Mayor Roman Holovnia said on television. “Right now there is not enough medicine, there is not enough bread because it cannot be baked: there is no electricity.”
THE ROAD TO CHERSONA
[1/5] Locals welcome Ukrainian soldiers as people celebrate after Russia’s retreat from Kherson, in central Kherson, Ukraine, November 12, 2022. REUTERS/Lesko Kromplitz The road to Kherson from Mikolaiv was lined with fields containing miles of abandoned Russian trenches. A damaged T72 tank lay with its turret upside down. Abandoned trenches were littered with litter, blankets and camouflage netting. An irrigation ditch was filled with discarded Russian tools and several anti-tank mines were visible on the side of the road. In the village of Klapaya, Porkhunuk said that for most of the past nine months, the village has been occupied by pro-Moscow Ukrainian troops from the Russian-held Donetsk region “who said they will not harm us and we should stay at home”. But for two weeks, Russian soldiers occupied Klapaja and told villagers they were there to look for “Nazis, Banderites and American biolabs,” he said, adding that he had replied: “If you want to look for them, look elsewhere and go home. “ Russian troops also warned that: “If we find that you are hiding any Ukrainian soldiers, we will level your house and village,” he continued. He said the attackers also ransacked houses whose residents had left. Moscow describes its actions in Ukraine as a “special military operation”. He has made allegations of dangerous far-right groups in Ukraine and unproven claims that Ukraine was home to US-run bioweapons facilities. Kyiv and its allies say Russia’s invasion, which has killed tens of thousands and uprooted millions, was unprovoked and illegal. In the nearby village of Kiselevka, a group of teenagers stood on a dusty corner with a sign from a cupboard door with “Kherson” painted on it and an arrow pointing to a detour around a damaged bridge on the main highway from Mykolaiv. “We are here because we wanted to help in some way. So, a few hours ago, we made the signal,” said Artem, 17. Villagers said the Russians left on Wednesday night. “They didn’t shoot,” said Hyhory Kulyaka, 54, who rode up on a scooter. “They were just gone.” Report by Jonathan Landay. Written by Tom Balmforth. Editor: Christina Fincher Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
