Kherson is no Stalingrad, or Putingrad, even.
Ukrainians are being advised to wait before going back to the liberated Kherson Oblast because Russians are launching attacks on this territory and local power facilities.
Source: Natalia Humeniuk, press secretary of the Operational Command Pivden (South), in the national joint 24/7 newscast
Quote: "The settlements in the Beryslav district which have been liberated from the enemy are now under constant attack, and the situation there is worsening. Infrastructure and communications are being damaged.
We do not recommend going back there. Winter is coming and it is likely that it will be impossible to repair communications and provide services to the population."
Details: Humeniuk explained that Russians are launching attacks on the liberated territory out of despair.
They are also launching attacks on the Nikopol district, which is located right opposite the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
www.pravda.com.ua/...
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia relinquished its final foothold in a major city in southern Ukraine on Friday, allowing Ukrainian forces to move cautiously toward reclaiming the country’s only Russian-occupied provincial capital in what would be a major morale-boosting victory.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its troops finished withdrawing from the western bank of the river that divides Ukraine’s Kherson region at 5 a.m. The area they left included the city of Kherson, the only provincial capital Russia had captured during its nearly 9-month invasion of Ukraine.
Videos and photos circulating on social media showed local residents cheerfully taking to the streets and a Ukrainian flag flying over a monument in a central Kherson square for the first time since early March, when the city was seized by the Russians. Some footage showed crowds cheering on men in military uniform.
Ukrainian officials have not confirmed the city was back in Ukrainian hands. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency said “an operation to liberate Kherson” and the surrounding region of the same name was underway
“But it will be possible to talk about establishing Ukrainian control over the city only after an official report by the General Staff” of the Ukrainian army, Andriy Yusov told The Associated Press.
Ukrainian intelligence urged Russian soldiers who might still be in the city to surrender in the anticipation of Kyiv’s forces arriving.
“Your command left you to the mercy of fate. ... Your commanders urge you to change into civilian clothes and try to escape from Kherson on your own. Obviously. you won’t be able to,” the intelligence statement read.
apnews.com/...
People in Kherson had hung the Ukrainian flag as they awaited their troops in the city.