‘We are Ukraine & we’re unbreakable’
KYIV: Ukrainians are hailing Russia’s retreat from Kherson but Kyiv’s military was still working to de-mine the strategic southern city, record Russian crimes and restore power across the region.
The Russian retreat from the city of Kherson has boosted Ukrainian resistance after nearly nine months of fighting and hardship.
In the formerly occupied village of Pravdyne, outside Kherson, returning locals embraced neighbours, with some unable to hold back tears.
“Victory, finally!” said Svitlana Galak, who lost her eldest daughter in the war.
“Thank god we’ve been liberated and everything will now fall into place,” the 43year-old told AFP.
“We are Ukraine,” added her husband, Viktor, 44.
Several disabled anti-tank mines as well as grenades could be seen in the settlement that is home to a Polish Catholic church and a number of damaged buildings.
Speaking from Kherson city centre, regional official Yaroslav Yanushevych said everything was being done to “return normal life” to the area.
While de-mining is carried out, a curfew has been put in place and movement in and out of the city has been limited, Yanushevych said in a video posted to social media, in which people are celebrating in the background, while other images showed locals dancing around a bonfire singing “Chervona Kalyna”, a patriotic song.
“All of us are elated,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday after declaring the day before that the Black Sea city was back in Kyiv’s hands.
Kherson city was the first major urban hub to fall after Russia invaded in February and president Vladimir Putin declared it Russian territory only weeks ago.
“Before fleeing Kherson, the occupiers destroyed all critical infrastructure -- communication, water supply, heat, electricity,” Zelensky said, adding that nearly 2,000 explosives had been removed.
He said Ukraine’s forces had established control over more than 60 settlements in the Kherson region.
After an eight-month Russian occupation, Ukrainian television resumed broadcasting in the city and the region’s energy provider said it was working to restore power.
While Kherson residents were jubilant, defiant locals in the town of Borodyanka were buoyed by a piece of street art which they said defined their unbreakable spirit.
British street artist Banksy, has painted a mural on a bombed-out building in the town outside Kyiv. He posted on Instagram three images of the artwork depicting a gymnast doing a handstand amid the ruins of a demolished building. The caption read “Borodyanka, Ukraine”.
“It is a symbol that we are unbreakable,” said 32-yearold Oleksiy Savochka, referring to the graffiti. “And our country is unbreakable.”
Borodyanka was severely hit by bombardments and was briefly occupied by Russian forces before they withdrew in April.
A number of Banksy-style murals have appeared in and around Kyiv prompting Ukrainians to think the elusive artist might be working in the war-ravaged country.
Another graffiti in Borodyanka -- its origin unconfirmed -- shows a little boy throwing a man wearing a judo uniform to the ground, in a possible reference to Putin, who is a martial arts enthusiast.