Kherson authorities rush to restore water and electricity in the liberated Ukrainian city

Key points
  • Critical infrastructure was damaged in Kherson by fleeing Russian troops.
  • Authorities are rushing to provide homes in the southern port city with water and electricity.
  • For security reasons, a ban on the exit or entry of people into the city was introduced.
Utilities in Kherson are working to repair critical infrastructure damaged and mined by fleeing Russian troops, with most homes in the southern Ukrainian city still without power and water, regional officials say.
Amid the jubilation, some residents of the city spoke of the mistreatment by the Russians during their occupation. .

Kherson Region Governor Yaroslav Yanushevich said on Sunday that authorities had decided to maintain a curfew and bar people from leaving or entering the city as a security measure.

A woman with a Ukrainian flag hugs a Ukrainian soldier in the center of Kherson.

Residents of the liberated southern city of Kherson gathered on the main square to greet the Ukrainian soldiers. Source: Getty / AFP via Getty Images

“The enemy has mined all critical infrastructure facilities,” Yanushevich told Ukrainian television. “We are trying to meet within a few days and (then) open the city,” he said.

Ukrainian military arrived in the center of Kherson on Friday after since his invasion began in February.
exit marked and the first, which involved the surrender of such a large occupied city in the face of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive that reclaimed parts of the east and south.

On Sunday, artillery fire swept over the city, but it could not prevent crowds of cheering, flag-waving residents, wrapped up in the cold, from gathering on the main square of Kherson. The crowd tried to pick up mobile phone signals from Starlink ground stations installed on Ukrainian military equipment.

Residents of Kherson stand around a table with a Wi-Fi router to connect to the Internet.

Residents use the Internet from the Starlink network, created by the Ukrainian army after the liberation of Kherson. Source: Getty / AFP via Getty Images

“Now we are happy, but we are all afraid of bombardments from the left bank,” said singer Yana Smirnova, 35, referring to Russian artillery installations on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River near the city.

Ms Smirnova said that she and her friends had to fetch water from the river for bathing and flushing toilets, and few residents were fortunate enough to have generators that power pumps to draw water from wells.
Local authorities said most of the city had no electricity or running water. Yuriy Sobolevsky, first deputy chairman of the Kherson Regional Council, told Ukrainian television that while the authorities are working to restore critical services, the humanitarian situation remains “very difficult.”

However, some of those celebrating in Kherson’s main square said the problems pale in comparison to the joy of Ukrainian troops entering the city.

Two women hug a Ukrainian soldier in the center of Kherson.

Kherson was the only regional capital that Russian troops managed to capture before their forcible withdrawal. Source: Getty / AFP via Getty Images

Residents say the Russians have been withdrawing gradually over the past two weeks, but their final withdrawal only became apparent when the first Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on Thursday.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had recaptured 179 settlements and 4,500 square kilometers along the Dnieper since the beginning of the week.
President Volodymyr Zelensky attributed Ukraine’s success in Kherson and elsewhere to stubborn resistance in the Donetsk region, despite repeated Russian attacks.

“It’s just hell there – there are extremely fierce battles every day,” he said on Saturday.