Editor’s note: Full names and the deployment locations of the soldiers interviewed for this story are not disclosed since they weren't authorized to speak to the press. KHERSON OBLAST – Mortars are the first things that greet the Ukrainian soldiers who are lucky enough to make it across the Dnipro
KHERSON – Sitting in a pitch-dark kitchen with just the flashlight on, 70-year-old Viacheslav Bezprozvanyi warned of an incoming shelling as soon as he heard a swish over him. Split seconds later, a thick thud of shelling hit the ground a few hundred meters away. The house shook, knocking off a
Ukraine's Armed Forces reported destroying two ammunition depots in Oleshky, an occupied town in Kherson Oblast, and hitting a site that hosted a "group" of Russian troops.
According to the report, Russian troops shelled Kherson seven times over the past day, firing 63 projectiles.
Russian shelling injured a 9-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy on July 1, oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on July 1.
Editor’s note: The following is a photo essay and a personal reflection on the flooding of Kherson by Ukrainian photographer Anastasia Vlasova, a native of Kherson. Vlasova returned to her hometown days after Russia destroyed Kakhovka dam in early June, resulting in a catastrophic flooding of many cities and
While the world was gripped by the horrendous flood that hit Ukraine's southern Kherson Oblast after Russian forces destroyed the massive Kakhovka dam over the Dnipro River on June 6, fearless volunteers and regular Ukrainians spent no time doubting they had to step up again. Many rushed directly to the
KHERSON – Since Russia’s full-scale war began, first came eight months of terror under occupation, then came seven months of intense shelling across the river, then came the river itself to Kherson. Over 24 hours after Russian forces destroyed the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant and its massive dam over the
The dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant across the Dnipro River, occupied by Russian forces, was destroyed on the morning of June 6, sparking a large-scale humanitarian and environmental disaster across southern Ukraine. Ukraine's Southern Operational Command reported early in the morning that Russian forces blew up the dam.
These Khersonians residents were openly protesting against the occupation. But as Russia tightened its grip, some of them continued their protest in more subtle ways – despite the risks of being kidnapped or killed.
Kindergarten teacher Olena Naumova was struggling to breathe as she sat in the back seat of a car driving through the streets of her hometown of Kherson on the morning of Aug. 23. There was a tight plastic bag over her head and three Russian soldiers surrounded her. Naumova knew
Editor’s Note: We don’t reveal the real names of the people interviewed for this story due to the sensitive nature of their activities that puts them in direct danger. In the story, names were assigned to them for storytelling purposes. KHERSON – Kherson was liberated because Ukraine forced Russians
CHORNOBAIVKA, Kherson Oblast – Hours before the Ukrainian forces arrived to liberate this village outside Kherson on Nov. 11, a breathless local man sprinted into its one small hospital. The morning’s shelling had hit his neighbor — the local saw him screaming, covered in blood. With no mobile service or any
ne of the recent victims of Russian barbarism is the Kherson Regional Local Lore Museum, which used to have around 180,000 exhibits in its collection. Now, the shelves of some of its halls stand completely empty.
SNIHURIVKA, Mykolaiv Oblast — When Russian forces seized her town, chemistry teacher Natalia Vorobiova had a choice: collaborate and be left alone or defy them and risk everything. She chose defiance. Even after Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) threatened to abduct and imprison her in Siberia, she continued to refuse to
The humanitarian situation has been worsening in Kherson since Russian forces occupied the city in March and continues to be difficult even after liberation. Local volunteers share how they helped fellow residents by delivering medicine and food .
KHERSON – KYIV – Kherson residents sat in an eerily quiet overnight train to Kyiv. It was Nov. 25, and they were leaving their hometown for the first time since February. The evacuees spent almost nine months under Russian occupation in Kherson, waiting for the arrival of Ukrainian forces. But a few
KHERSON – When Russia captured Kherson in March, disrupting supply chains to the city, local Ukrainian volunteers kept it running. When people had no food, they set up free hot meal cafeterias. When people had no medicine or hygiene goods, they brought them in from Odesa. When children needed to take
KHERSON — Housed in a grand imperial building with a view out onto the Dnipro River, the Kherson Fine Arts Museum once hosted one of the richest collections in all of Ukraine. As with the rest of Kherson, which had its electricity infrastructure destroyed by withdrawing Russian forces in early November,
KHERSON — Huge numbers of Ukrainians were detained by Russians occupying Kherson. Many of them were interrogated by torture. The chief prosecutor of Kherson Oblast, Volodymyr Kalyuga, said that locals were tortured at four sites throughout the city. According to interviews with local officials and residents, these included a pre-trial detention
KHERSON – Standing outside her small, dimly lit grocery store, Natalia chain-smokes several cigarettes until a customer finally shows up at the door. The 48-year-old shopkeeper misses being busy all day. More than a week after Ukrainian forces recaptured her native Kherson, she is still waiting for her long-time customers to
Dozens gathered at the Kherson railway station on Nov. 19 to greet the first train from Kyiv that arrived in the city after eight months of Russia's occupation. Many have reunited with their loved ones for the first time in months.
KHERSON — Svitlana Dosenko stood dangerously close to the edge of the platform, anxiously waiting for her son to arrive on the first train from Kyiv to Kherson since Russia’s invasion engulfed the entire country. “I left home in a hurry because I was worried that the platform would be
KHERSON — As Maksym Nehrov sat in the back of a vehicle, tied up, with a bag over his head, he overheard the Russians talking and he knew at once where he was headed. They’d hunted him all over Kherson, kicking down doors and tearing through the apartments of his
Ukraine's recapture of the southern city of Kherson came as a happy surprise for exiled local journalist Kseniya Keleberda. "When Ukrainian forces first entered Kherson, we cried and smiled at the same time," she told the Kyiv Independent. Survivors of the eight-month-long Russian occupation immediately began celebrating at the central
KHERSON – When liberation came, many Kherson residents could barely believe the ordeal was over. Kherson was the only regional capital that Russians managed to capture, back in the first days of the full-scale invasion. A brutal occupation then ensued, with many residents being suppressed, robbed, abducted, tortured or killed. In
Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on Nov. 11, two days after Russia declared its retreat. Kherson, a city with a pre-war population of nearly 300,000 people, was the only regional capital sacked by Russia. Kherson residents held large-scale protests in March and April, demanding that Russian troops leave the city.
Key developments on Nov. 11: * Prosecutors: Bodies of civilians found in liberated parts of Kherson Oblast * Ukraine returns 45 POWs from Russian captivity * Ukraine building a wall at border with Belarus * Germany to send Ukraine additional 1 billion euros for cyber defense, documenting war crimes. “Today is a historic day.
The Russian defeat in Kherson Oblast was almost inevitable — but it happened sooner than many expected. The Nov. 9 announcement on Russia’s “uneasy decision” to leave Kherson, voiced by General Sergei Surovikin, has drawn the line under a months-long Ukrainian effort to undermine the Russian presence on Dnipro’s
Russia's gradual retreat reached a sudden climax on Nov. 9, when Moscow announced the withdrawal of its forces from the right bank of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson. Upon the recommendation of Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered the
MYKOLAIV OBLAST — The low November sun slips in and out of the clouds near the regional border between Kherson and Mykolaiv. The last of the autumn leaves, the color of rust and flame, blow across the barren field as a handful of Ukrainian soldiers climb a small tree and go
As Ukrainians push toward occupied Kherson, the Russian occupiers on Oct. 18 said they would move up to 60,000 Ukrainian civilians to occupied parts of Ukraine or Russia. The occupation authorities called it an “evacuation,” saying that Ukrainian forces are likely to attack the city. The Russians have already
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