Donetsk battlefields are ‘hell’, Zelenskiy says
Russians mined Kherson infrastructure on their way out, says governor
Russian forces destroyed key infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson before fleeing, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as his counterparts in Russia and Iran vowed to deepen trade ties.
“It is just hell — there are fierce battles there every day,” Zelenskiy said of the Donetsk region in a video address.
Utility companies in Kherson were working to restore critical infrastructure mined by fleeing Russian forces, with most of the homes in the city still without electricity and water on Sunday. "The enemy mined all critical infrastructure objects," Kherson governor Yaroslav Yanushevych told Ukrainian TV.
Britain said Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, the only regional capital in Ukraine it had captured since invading in February, was another humiliation for its army but Moscow continued to pose a threat.
Kherson residents held flowers and kissed Ukrainian soldiers who were moving into the right bank of the Dnipro River after Russia’s stunning retreat.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, emphasised “further enhancing co-operation in the political, trade and economic fields, including the transport and logistics sector” during a phone call, the Kremlin said.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said the West was “militarising” southeast Asia in a bid to contain Russian and Chinese interests, setting the stage for a confrontation between Russia and Western leaders at this week’s G20 summit in Bali. Russia said there was no agreement yet to extend a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, repeating its insistence on unhindered access to world markets for its own export needs.
Russia restated its insistence on unhindered access to world markets for its food and fertiliser exports after what it called a “thorough exchange of views” with UN officials the day before in Geneva.
Turkey is committed to seeking a peace dialogue between Russia and Ukraine, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said, as he accused the US and other Western countries of provoking Moscow.
● Renowned graffiti artist Banksy unveiled a work in the Ukrainian town of Borodyanka, which had been occupied by Russia until April and heavily damaged by fighting in the early days of Moscow’s invasion of its neighbour.
Banksy posted a photo of the mural — a girl gymnast performing a handstand on a small pile of concrete rubble — on Instagram late on Friday. The work was painted onto the wall of a building destroyed by shelling.
At least one other piece of new graffiti in Banksy’s signature style, although not posted by the mercurial artist on social media, was spotted in Borodyanka, portraying a man being flipped in judo by a much smaller child.
The symbolism of that piece was unmistakeable: an allusion to the biblical story of David and Goliath, the unlikely triumph of the underdog, as well as a nod to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s much-publicised love of the Japanese martial art.