The counter-offensive is launched. Eastern Ukraine is now partly under Russian control. Kyiv lost control of most of the Kherson region near the Black Sea in the first weeks after the Russian invasion on February 24. But new villages are gradually being liberated in the southern regions. The Ukrainians are advancing between Kherson, Mykolaiv and towards Zaporijia.
Ukraine thus announced that it had struck Russian forces in the occupied region of Kherson on the night of Monday to Tuesday July 12. According to Ukrainian military officials, the strike killed 52 Russian soldiers and destroyed “a warehouse with ammunition” in Nova Kakhovka. For their part, the Russian occupation authorities accuse him of having touched houses. The head of the administration installed in this locality by the Russian forces, Vladimir Leontiev, denounced a “act of terrorism” and “a terrible tragedy“, claiming that”there is no military target here“.”There are already seven dead and around 60 injured“, according to him.
>> War in Ukraine: follow the evolution of the situation live
The Ukrainians are determined to retake Kherson, as confirmed to franceinfo by Commander Nazar Bogdanovic, who leads a battalion. From Monday July 11, he called on the inhabitants to leave as soon as possible or if they cannot, to take shelter in anticipation of fierce fighting.
“I can’t tell you exactly when, but we are going to liberate Kherson and it is absolutely necessary that the inhabitants of these territories hear this message in order to stay alive.”
Commander Nazar Bogdanovicfranceinfo
The Ukrainian army therefore warns its own population of the risks it incurs and that the Russians will be able to use it as a human shield. However, in Kherson, where the Russian flag has been flying for more than four months, residents cannot afford to leave.
This is the case of the Paranka family, who live in a small peaceful-looking farm, located 20 kilometers from the front. “The army has to do its job but it’s not that simple. I, for example, have three sisters in Kherson and I assure you that for them it will be impossible to leave the city“, regrets Paranka. In question: the money, which is missing. Besides, Paranka is worried: she has not been able to reach them for two months.
/2022/07/11/phpFZIVUY.jpg)
The challenge for the Ukrainian authorities is to transmit the information of the imminence of a counter-offensive. However, Internet networks are always officially in Russian hands in these occupied territories.
Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol, a city of 150,000 inhabitants before the conflict, located in southern Ukraine and in the oblast of Zaporijjia, distribute manuals to the inhabitants to help them to install virtual private networks (VPN), which makes it possible to circumvent the censorship of the Russians. “In this way, they have access to Ukrainian social networks“, says Ivan Fedorov. “In these territories, Russian propaganda wants to block information and make the population believe that Ukraine is forgetting them and will not return to the occupied territories“, says the mayor.