In this photo provided by Ukraine’s Presidential Press Office and posted on Facebook, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seen during his visit to Kherson, Ukraine, Monday, November 14, 2022.
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In this photo provided by the Press Office of the President of Ukraine and posted on Facebook, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is seen during a visit to Kherson, Ukraine, Monday, November 14, 2022.
AP
KHERSON, Ukraine – President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit Monday to the key southern city of Kherson to mark liberation from eight months of Russian occupation.
The crowd in Kherson cheered when Zelenskyy told them, “We’re coming to our country step by step.”
Zelenskyy visited frontline areas throughout the war, but often on secret trips that were only announced after his arrival and departure.
This time he appeared publicly in front of the city’s main government building, dressed in a military-style coat, surrounded by heavily armed security forces. He said and waved to the people as Ukraine celebrated one of the biggest victories in the war.
The Russians, however, were only a short distance away, having retreated from Kherson on the west bank of the Dnipro River to the east. The two armies remained within artillery range of each other.
In a televised address on Sunday night, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian investigators had documented more than 400 cases of Russian forces suspected of being war criminals during their occupation of Kherson.
“The Russian military has left behind atrocities similar to those in other parts of our country,” he said.
The Russians have previously denied the abuse.
But Ukraine says it has recorded thousands of cases nationwide, and a United Nations report in September found evidence that Russians had killed, tortured and raped Ukrainian civilians.
Because the Russians took Kherson without fighting at the beginning of the war, most of the city’s buildings remained intact, unlike other urban areas that were turned into ruins.
However, the Russians destroyed Kherson’s water and energy systems before withdrawing last week.
The city is short of electricity and heat, and desperately needs food, water and medicine. Ukraine’s military and government officials are trying to restore a sense of normalcy in a city of nearly 300,000 residents before the war.
Officials estimate only about a quarter of the population remained in Kherson in the final days of the Russian occupation.
In contrast to Zelenskyy, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly spoken about Kherson since Russian troops left the city without fighting.
Putin annexed Kherson and several other regions of Ukraine in September, declaring them permanently part of Russia.
Asked about the latest developments in Kherson, Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said: “We will not comment. You know this territory belongs to the Russian Federation.”
