Kherson - The African Mirror

May

2023

Traitor next door? Fear stalks Kherson after Russian occupation ends

VALENTYNA Haras says she isn't a traitor. Nonetheless, her garden walls in the Ukrainian city of Kherson are covered with graffiti marking her out as a Russian collaborator. "Rashist" - a Ukrainian blend of Russian fascist - is scrawled in red paint. Accusatory "Z"s - symbols of support for Moscow's war machine - are daubed liberally. Fear and suspicion stalk the streets of Kherson, a southern port that was occupied by Russian troops for over eight months before they were driven out by Ukrainian forces in November. The city is now the focus of relentless Russian bombardment. Six months on…

Jan

2023

By The African Mirror

Scale of alleged torture, detentions by Russian forces in Kherson emerges

WORLD

ANTHONY DEUTSCH, ANNA VOITENKO and OLENA HARMASH OKSANA Minenko, a 44-year-old accountant who lives in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, said she was repeatedly detained and tortured by occupying Russian forces. Her husband, a Ukrainian soldier, died defending Kherson’s Antonivskyi bridge on the first day of full-scale war, she said. During several interrogations in the spring, Russian forces submerged her hands in boiling water, pulled out her fingernails and beat her in the face with rifle butts so badly she needed plastic surgery, according to Minenko. “One pain grew into another,” said Minenko, speaking while at an improvised humanitarian aid…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Russia intensifies attacks on liberated Kherson, eastern Ukraine

WORLD

DAN PELESCHUK and HERBERT VILLARRAGA RUSSIAN forces stepped up mortar and artillery attacks on the recently liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday, Ukraine's military said, while also exerting constant pressure along front lines in eastern regions of the country. Russia fired 33 missiles from multiple rocket launchers at civilian targets in Kherson in the 24 hours to early Wednesday, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said in its morning report. Russia denies targeting civilians. Heavy fighting also persisted around the Ukrainian-held city of Bakhmut, now largely in ruins, in the eastern province of Donetsk, and to…

Dec

2022

By The African Mirror

Ukrainians in Kherson wait for loved ones to cross frontline river

WORLD

ANTHONY DEUTSCH and ANNA VOITENKO UKRAINIAN families waited in the bitter cold for their loved ones to cross from the Russian-held bank of the Dnipro River to Kherson, a city that since Ukraine recaptured it from Russian forces last month has been under heavy shelling. Military officials in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson on Saturday warned fighting in the area could intensify and said they would temporarily lift a ban on crossings to help the evacuation of citizens on the Russian-occupied territory on the east bank. Under the three-day amnesty which began on Saturday, Ukrainians living in villages across the river…

Nov

2022

By The African Mirror

Russia abandons Ukrainian city of Kherson in major retreat

WORLD

MARK TREVELYAN RUSSIAN Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson and take up defensive lines on the opposite bank of the River Dnipro. The announcement marked one of Russia's most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month. In televised comments, General Sergei Surovikin, in overall command of the war, reported to Shoigu that it was no longer possible to keep Kherson city supplied. "Having comprehensively assessed the current situation, it is proposed to take up defence along the left (eastern)…