‘Putin kaput, glory to Ukraine’
Crowds of euphoric residents lined the streets of Kherson yesterday waving yellow and blue flags in greeting as their troops rolled into the city after eight months of brutal Russian occupation.
‘‘Glory to the Ukrainian armed forces! Glory to Ukraine!’’ they chanted. A cardboard sign taped to a lamppost in Freedom Square read: ‘‘Putin kaput!’’
Some of the Russian propaganda posters around the strategically important southern city had already been torn down in the hours since President Vladimir Putin’s army made a hasty withdrawal on Friday, local time. Teenagers posed for selfies in front of one hoarding that remained, their middle fingers extended towards its now outdated declaration: ‘‘Kherson is with Russia for ever!’’
Kherson, which had a pre-war population of more than 280,000, was the only provincial capital that Russia had seized. Its loss is Putin’s most embarrassing defeat since he invaded Ukraine in February. Coming six weeks after he claimed the city for Russia in perpetuity, it is arguably the biggest personal humiliation of his 22-year rule.
Celebrations broke out across Ukraine after the Russians began to flee. In his nightly video address President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the recapture of the city as a ‘‘historic day’’ and promised to restore medicine supplies and communications as soon as possible. ‘‘Life is returning,’’ he said. In Kherson itself, the jubilation was tempered by the danger posed by the Russian military presence just across the Dnipro river that flows around the back of the city.
As we joined residents on the Ukrainian-controlled western side of the river, Russian soldiers opened fire from the opposite bank, forcing us to make a hasty retreat. About half an hour later Russian shells were heard in the distance.
When Putin’s army escaped, they blew up the Antonoviskyi bridge, the only road link across the Dnipro, to prevent a Ukrainian pursuit.
Not all the Russian soldiers got out in time. ‘‘Some of them are holed up in basements,’’ Zhenya, a Ukrainian soldier, said. ‘‘Our forces are working to neutralise them.’’
Filled with adrenaline, residents shared raw memories of the misery inflicted by the occupiers.
‘‘We lived in hell under the Russians,’’ said Serghii, 29. ‘‘There was no freedom. They took anyone who was proUkrainian and tortured them. But I always believed our army would free us. Always.’’
Dmytro, 25, had been less confident the liberation would come. ‘‘It was so terrifying to walk along the street and hear the screams of people being tortured. I’ll never be able to forget this,’’ he said.
During the occupation, Russian soldiers had routinely stopped local residents and checked their phones, he added. ‘‘If they found even a hint that you were pro-Ukrainian, they locked you up and beat you.’’
Another man, Evhen, said Russian soldiers had dragged him off the streets and beaten him for hours. ‘‘They threatened to cut my ear off,’’ he said.
Galyna, another local resident, said: ‘‘The occupants looted everything they could and sent it to Russia. What they couldn’t take, they destroyed.’’
Russian-installed officials even forced Kherson’s residents to live by Russian time, an hour ahead of Ukraine. As darkness fell yesterday evening, residents were unsure about what time it was. ‘‘We are all confused now,’’ said one. ‘‘Is is 6pm or 7pm?’’
Because the retreating Russian forces cut off the power and the water supply, much of Kherson descended into darkness. People gathered at cafes powered by generators.
In contrast to the joy in the city centre earlier, the mood was tense. A drunken man hurled a cup of tea at an elderly woman after she said her grandson had served in the Soviet army.
Imposing order on the liberated city is now an urgent priority. The head of the national police, Ihor Klymenko, wrote on Facebook that about 200 officers were setting up checkpoints, defusing unexploded ordnance and documenting evidence of possible war crimes.
Some residents collaborated with the occupying forces. Those who did face an uncertain future.
Roman Holovnya, an adviser to Kherson’s mayor, pointed at a woman in a red coat. ‘‘She was kissing Russian soldiers!’’ he shouted. – Sunday Times