A sobbering look at a recaptured Kherson…..
And Ukraine troops work block by block to wrap up Russian soliders still in place in Kherson…
The city has little water, power and outside communications …..
Ukraine troops say the Russian have left behind atrocities there as in other area’s retaken…
There is a fight going on in the Donetsk region as Ukraine forces try to march across it in a effort to regain territory to its South that Russia still holds…They are fighting separatist forces and have been in defensive fighting…
Here’s what we know:
Officials are examining the damage to the city they reclaimed days ago, where water, power and food are in short supply. President Zelensky said more than 400 potential war crimes were documented in the region.
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Kherson’s buildings largely stand. But much of its infrastructure is severed.
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Zelensky says evidence of atrocities has been found in the Kherson region.
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Kherson residents say the Russification attempts ‘just didn’t work.’
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Criticism of Russia’s military from the country’s war hawks hits a new high.
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Zelensky calls the fighting in Donetsk ‘hell,’ a sobering view after the recapture of Kherson.
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‘Don’t cry, my sweetheart,’ a grandmother says in a first video call with her family.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects around the world.
- National security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the United States will send additional military aid to Ukraine soon, in an amount that will be “roughly the same magnitude” as a $400 million aid package that was announced last week. “We are remaining steady in our supply of security assistance,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One as they traveled with President Biden to the G-20 summit in Indonesia. “There will be no slackening in our support or deviation from the frequency and intensity of that support.” The political composition of the 2023-2024 U.S. House is undetermined.
- Celebrations continued in Kherson on Sunday with hundreds of people flocking to the central square, where they hugged soldiers, took selfies and left flowers in what was quickly becoming a de facto shrine to the newly liberated city. At the same time, soldiers, officials and volunteers were busy trying to repair badly damaged or sabotaged infrastructure, which officials said had left Kherson on the verge of a humanitarian crisis.
- Some communication with the outside world had been restored in Kherson thanks to Starlink systems set up by the Ukrainian military and police in the central square. Dozens of residents lined up to gain access to the free internet service after days, if not weeks, of being cut off from their friends and family. Some cellular service was also restored in the center of the city on Sunday evening, Oleksandr Samoylenko, head of the regional council of Kherson, told The Washington Post.
- Ukrainian crews had removed thousands of explosives, but many more posed a danger to Kherson, authorities said. One person died, Zelensky said Sunday evening, and four others were injured while clearing mines. Regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych posted a videoSunday in which he said Russians “have mined almost everything.” He also called on people to avoid “crowded places.” In another dispatch, he urged people to avoid the city center on Monday so crews could clear explosives.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced a new amendment to strip some Russians of their citizenship if they criticize the military over its war on Ukraine or call for Russia to leave the territories it illegally claimed to annex. If rubber-stamped by Russia’s parliament, as is expected, the amendment would apply to Russians of foreign parentage who were granted citizenship. Those who question Russia’s borders or criticize the war would lose their Russian passports even if they have no other citizenship.
- The Ukrainian military was working on clearing the highway into Kherson from Mykolaiv. Russian forces appeared to have blown up a highway overpass or small bridge, and sowed the surrounding earth with antitank mines. By late Sunday afternoon, a Ukrainian demining crew had removed at least 38 of the explosive devices and cleared a path for some vehicles to pass.
- Moscow’s loss of Kherson could spell trouble at home for Putin, according to the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War think tank. Russian troops’ withdrawal from Kherson was “igniting an ideological fracture between pro-war figures and [Putin], eroding confidence in Putin’s commitment and ability to deliver his war promises,” which included “maximalist goals of overthrowing the Ukrainian government and seizing all of Ukraine,” the institute said.
- Ukrainian forces are on the defensive in the eastern Donetsk region, Zelensky said Saturday. “It’s just hell there,” he added, describing the “extremely brutal battles” that Kyiv’s troops are engaged in every day to prevent Russian forces from advancing further into the region, which Putin illegally claimed to annex in September. Maintaining the defense is crucial for allowing Ukraine to pursue offensive advances elsewhere, Zelensky said. “The level of Russian attacks is not decreasing,” he said Sunday evening.
- Six civilians were killed across Ukraine in fighting on Saturday, an official in Zelensky’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said Sunday morning in a Telegram post. The death toll includes four people who were killed in Donetsk and two in the Kherson region. Two more were wounded in the Dnipropetrovsk region, Tymoshenko added, without providing further details.
- Britain’s armed forces chief expressed hesitancy in calling Kherson’s liberation a “turning point,” but said it was nonetheless a “significant” gain for Ukraine. “This is a messy, protracted conflict and the likelihood is that it is going to continue,” Adm. Tony Radakin said in a BBC television interview….