Retaking Kherson, the big city in southern Ukraine, in Russian hands since the start of the war, is the objective of the Ukrainian army, which launched a counter-offensive at the end of August. For the inhabitants near this front line, hope is unfortunately quickly driven away by the horror of the bombardments.
In the Dnipropetrovsk region, fighting is raging this Wednesday, September 7, about fifteen kilometers as the crow flies from the small town of Zelenodolsk. There, as in the surrounding area, army vehicles are everywhere. Ivan, military doctor, gives a few words on the operations in progress: “We are not moving as fast as we would like, he laments. There are big obstacles: these are the mined areas, the mined forests, the anti-personnel mines left by the Russians. Lots of pitfalls… So we have losses.”
“We have the morale, continues Ivan. The guys understand that it’s the right time to liberate these territories. The victory will be there!”
Before the victory, there is still the response of the Russians: their strikes, their bombardments and dramas. Anastasia has just lost her son. “He was nine years old, says the mother, in tears. It was last Saturday, around 2 p.m. We were on a bench, we were playing with the dogs and at that moment, we heard shouting to put us on the ground. There was so much explosion that I couldn’t lift my head. Then I saw blood, and my son’s rolling eyes.”
“After the explosion, the military ambulance came. They told me that my son was still breathing, but no words came out of his mouth…”
Anastasia supports the counter-offensive: “This must all end, she begs. Civilians must no longer be left to suffer, it is unfair. Don’t let the children die! My children were happy that day.” Anastasia shows her son’s shoes, bloody. His twin brother is here, and he would like his brother back, and the war to end. His mother lies on the ground to show us how her son hid behind a bench to protect himself, before being hit. Then the sirens sounded outside, a mournful prelude to the bombardments. Everyone runs for refuge.
The report in Kherson by Benjamin Illy and Benjamin Thuau
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