Infamy by Russian troops in Lyman, the capital of Kyiv, prompting a Russian invasion of Kiev, and the collapse of DONETSK
Russian stragglers in the key city of Lyman were hunted down by Ukrainian forces on Sunday after they fled with “empty eyes,” according to a major Russian newspaper.
Two days after President Vladimir V. Putin held a grandiose ceremony to commemorate the incorporation of four Ukrainian territories into Russia, the debacle in the city — Lyman, a strategic railway hub in the eastern region of Donbas — ratcheted up pressure on a Russian leadership already facing withering criticism at home for its handling of the war and its conscription of up to 300,000 men into military service.
The Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote that Russian forces in Lyman were plagued by desertion, poor planning and delayed arrival of reserves, in an article published on Sunday.
Russian missiles hit at least eleven Ukrainian cities yesterday, in the broadest aerial assault against civilians since the invasion began. But even amid destruction, many people sheltered for only a few hours. Some returned to their lives. As my colleague Megan Specia, a Times foreign correspondent, left a shelter in the capital of Kyiv, she saw residents walking dogs and riding electric scooters.
State television reported on the suffering and also flaunted it. It showed plumes of smoke and carnage in central Kyiv, along with empty store shelves and a long-range forecast promising months of freezing temperatures there.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, which has seen more bombardments than Kyiv, residents shifted to war footing and stocked up on canned food, gas and drinking water. They also had fun at the Typsy Cherry. “The mood was cheerful,” its owner, Vladyslav Pyvovar, told The Times. People had fun, and wondered when the electricity would come back. The power came back hours later.
The strikes on Belgorod region next to Ukraine and the destruction of the municipal administration building in DONETSK, a city firmly controlled by Russia and its proxies since the beginning of 2015, sent a strong signal that the chaos unleashed by President Vladimir V. Putin is spreading far beyond the front lines
The two men who shot at the Russian troops died of their wounds, as well as 11 others, before taking their own lives.
State of Ukraine: from Ukraine to the crisis in the wake of the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 13. Explosion on a bridge to Crimea
Nuclear deterrence exercises will start on Monday. NATO has warned Russia not to use nuclear weapons on Ukraine but says the “Steadfast Noon” drills are a routine, annual training activity.
Russian agents detained eight people on Oct. 12 suspected of carrying out a large explosion on a bridge to Crimea, including Russian, Ukrainian and Armenian citizens.
The United Nations General Assembly roundly condemned Russia’s move to illegally annex four regions of Ukraine. In the Oct. 13 session, four countries voted for Russia, but only four voted in favor of Ukraine’s resolution.
Russian troops began arriving in Belarus Oct. 15, which Minsk said were the first convoys of almost 9,000 service members expected as part of a “regional grouping” of forces allegedly to protect Belarus from threats at the border from Ukraine and the West.
Past recaps can be found here. You can get more of NPR’s coverage here. Also, listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine podcast for updates throughout the day.
A boom of outgoing shellfire from the critical Eastern Ukrainian town on Wednesday has changed the notion out of the system, as the Ukrainian soldiers launched offensives to try and wrest back positions from Russian forces.
Our guide is Ukrainian military medic, who goes by her nom-de-guerre “Katrusya.” She pulls our convoy into the centre of the city at a rapid pace, wearing sunglasses and fatigues.
The building that she took us to was just been hit by a shell. We had to stop our car as another shell hit nearby. We scrambled for cover as more artillery rained and whizzed down nearby for around 20 minutes.
Do we live in Bakhmut? The story of the fights between Russian forces and civilians during the September 11 fighting in Donestk
Some residents are on the streets. The streets are strewn with craters and the industrial garbage bins have merged into small pools of trash.
There are people who live in a parallel universe. The elderly women drag their shopping trolleys behind them as they are out on their bikes, and the shops are a mystery.
Sergey is one of the people living in the Bakhmut area. He replied that he isn’t worried about the shelling. Everything is going to be okay.
Katrusya says that the intense fighting has cost the lives of numerous soldiers and civilians here. “I cannot give you the number, but it is a lot… there are lot of injured from both sides and also lots of dead.”
The struggle for Bakhmut has grown ever more ferocious in recent days. The fighting in the city was said to be the most difficult by Zelensky.
There are two other strategic towns in the Donestk region, which are Konstantinivka to the south-west andKramatorsk to the north-west. All three are key to Vladimir Putin’s total control of the region.
The scenes in Bakhmut though are different to those across the rest of the country, where Ukraine has largely been able to repel and even gain territory in recent weeks as Russian forces retreated at the end of September.
Here, Russian forces have made small, steady gains, largely thanks to the Wagner group, which is considered by analysts to be a Kremlin-approved private military company.
Despite their international reputation, the Wagner fighters seem like a bunch of soldiers for hire, according to Katrusya.
They are a bunch of slobs. There are a few well-trained professional fighters, but the majority of them have been accidentally fighting in the war looking for money or to be released from jail.
In September, video surfaced appearing to show Prigozhin recruiting prisoners from Russian jails for Wagner, offering a promise of clemency in exchange for six months’ combat service in Ukraine.
She acknowledges that the price of Ukraine will be very high. We have no other choice after losing the best, most motivated and trained but we will definitely win it. We will win absolutely.”
“I still can’t believe that I left there,” says Viktor, while pulling a red suitcase from the black car he rode to Zaporizhia, about 25 miles from occupied territory. “The madness.”
His home is just outside Kherson. He and his wife had three daughters there. Viktor says he was told by a neighbor that the Russians broke into their house immediately after they left.
The Russians may be able to shell them here and everyone is aware of that. It’s not clear whether Russian troops left Kherson or not. There is still uncertainty, behind this euphoria.
Kherson’s wife is ill-equipped to stay home, but she can’t do it: a frustrated veteran whose mother is afraid of her baby
At a Zaporizhzhia shelter, a volunteer who asks that he be called by his middle name, Artyom, helps care for Kherson evacuees as if they were his own family. Artyom asked that we not use his full name to protect his relatives in Kherson.
His wife generally stays home as much as she can. But to earn money, she sells potatoes and vegetables she grows in her own garden at a local street market.
But Artyom says it’s not fine. He counted his fingers and listed his fears, such as the Russians stopping his wife. He worries that she’ll get sick. She is four months pregnant. He worries about the baby.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/07/1134465380/kherson-ukraine-russia-battle-looms
The “Collaborators” by Holovya and the “Small People” in Kherson During the First Battles of the U.S. Army
Some of them are called as “collaborators” by Holovya, who is living in Kyiv. And he says some are people who just can’t leave. Many are older. Others don’t have much. Their lives right now are “intense,” he says.
What little public interaction there is now in the city revolves mostly around the local street markets that popped up since the war began. Most of the stores in Kherson are either closed or have empty shelves, so local farmers and bakers have been selling and trading items at the street markets.
“You can buy most things, from starting with medicine and finishing with meat,” says Natalyia Schevchenko, 30, who fled Kherson this summer. “But it’s terrible to observe. On one car, they sell medicine on the hood and on the side they cut meat.”
Schevchenko, who is volunteering at an Odesa nonprofit called Side-by-Side to evacuate residents from Kherson and other occupied territories, remains in contact with those in the city. She says that her grandmother keeps her up to date.
Artyom and his wife talk whenever they can get a decent connection. They generally try to keep their conversations light; they worry that Russians are listening in.
It’s scary — but they agree it’s a good thing. Artyom will probably be able to go home soon as they think it means the Ukrainians are getting closer.
Russian media reported that the power lines were damaged by Ukrainian shelling, but the head of the Kherson regional military administration blamed Russian troops.
Russian forces continued to fire from across the river on towns and villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian forces, according to the Ukrainian military’s southern command. The missiles struck north of the critical dam, hitting the town of Beryslav. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties.
About 200 Ukrainians were killed when the Russians occupied Borodianka shortly after the invasion began on Feb. 24 until the end of March, Yerko says. The town’s prewar population of 14,000 dwindled to a little more than 1,000. It’s back up to about 9000 despite the lack of resources.
The head of the Kherson regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevich, urged the tens of thousands of remaining residents in the city to evacuate while Ukrainian forces worked to clear land mines, hunt down Russian soldiers left behind and restore essential services.
Russia has suffered many setbacks in the war, starting with the retreats from Kyiv and the northeast in the autumn and then the loss of Kherson. Kherson was the only provincial capital Russia had captured since invading in February, and it was a major link in Russia’s effort to control the southern coastline along the Black Sea.
The city of Kherson was taken by Ukrainian troops on Friday as residents waved Ukrainian flags after the Russian retreat.
The move puts Kherson in the hands of Ukrainians and poses a serious blow to Putin, who just last month declared that Kherson was part of Russia forever.
Videos shared by Ukrainian government officials on social media showed scenes of civilians cheering and awaiting the arrival of a contingent of Ukrainian troops shortly after Russia said that the withdrawal of its forces across the Dnipro River was complete.
The region is a part of Russia, according to the spokesman for the Kremlin. It has been fixed and defined. No changes can be made here.
An explosive explosion on a critical kherson bridge severed the city’s last major-crossing: Ukranian war news russia updates
As he spoke, Ukrainian soldiers continued to move through towns and villages in the region, greeted joyously by tearful residents who had endured nine months occupation.
The commander of a Ukrainian drone group said he had seen no Russian equipment or troops in his area near Kherson city.
He said that the Russians left all the villages. “We looked at dozens of villages with our drones and didn’t see a single car. We don’t understand how they are leaving. They retreat quietly at night.
The final hours of the Russian occupation were chaotic and confusing, according to residents of Kherson who spoke on the phone Friday morning.
Serhiy, a retiree living in the city who asked that his last name not be published for security reasons, said in a series of text messages that conditions in the city had unraveled overnight.
He wrote that it was not even possible to call the fire department as a building burned in the center. No phone signal, no electricity, no heating and no water was present.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/11/world/ukraine-war-news-russia-updates/an-explosion-on-a-crucial-kherson-bridge-severed-the-citys-last-major-crossing
CNN Observations of the Dnipro Battle: The Russian-controlled southern region of Kherson during October and April 2011 russian-American Warfare
Russian soldiers may have been hidden as civilians, and left behind to engage the Ukrainians in street battles or sabotage operations.
Russian forces were shelling Ukrainians across the river while setting up defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro.
For much of the journey through smaller towns and settlements, our team of CNN journalists was forced to drive through diversions and fields: bridges over canals were blown up, and roads were full of craters and littered with anti-tank mines.
The borders of the Russian-controlled southern region of Kherson were empty on Friday when the Russians withdrew from the west bank of the Dnipro River.
Billboards around the city that once read “Ukraine is Russian forever” have reportedly been spray-painted over with the message: “Ukraine was Russia’s until November 11.”
The city’s residents have no water, no internet connection and little power. The mood was very positive as a CNN crew entered the city on Saturday.
The streets of Kherson are filled with residents who are proud of their country and proud of their region as it prepares to become a pro-Russian republic.
Despite the limited military presence, huge applauses erupt from crowds on the street every time a truck full of soldiers drives past, with Ukrainian soldiers getting soup, bread, flowers, hugs and kisses from ecstatic onlookers.
As CNN’s crew stopped to regroup, we observed an old man and an old woman hugging a young soldier, with hands on the soldier’s shoulder, exchanging excited “thank yous.”
Everyone wants you to understand what they went through, how thankful they are to the countries who helped them, and how excited they are to be free.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky was at his home in KYIV when Russian and Ukrainian forces battled each other across the Dnipro River.
The Dnipro has become the new front line in southernUkraine, and officials there warned of danger from fighting in regions that have already suffered months of Russian occupation.
The southern part of the city has been hit by fire in the afternoon, stoking fear that the Russian Army would launch a bombardment against it if it lost the city.
Mortar shells struck near the bridge, sending up puffs of smoke. There were loud booms from incoming rounds near the river. It was not immediately possible to assess what had been hit.
Exploiting the dangers of mines: Mr. Yanushevich and his wife, Ivan, fleeing from Kherson City, Ukraine
The mines are dangerous. Four people, including an 11-year-old, were killed when a family driving in the village of Novoraysk, outside the city, ran over a mine, Mr. Yanushevich said. Another mine injured six railway workers who were trying to restore service after lines were damaged. Ukrainian officials said in statements that at least four more children had been injured by mines.
The deaths underscored the dangers that remain on the ground, even as Mr. Zelensky made a surprise visit to Kherson.
“We are, step by step, coming to all of our country,” Mr. Zelensky said in a short appearance in the city’s main square on Monday, as hundreds of jubilant residents celebrated.
One resident of Kherson City used a secure messaging app to say thatOccupants would rob local people and exchange stuff for homemade vodka. “Then they get drunk and even more aggressive. We are so scared here.” She asked that her surname be withheld for security.
Ivan said that Russians wander around and 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- 888-609- and settle there. He lives in Skadovsk, which is south of Kherson city, and asked that his surname not be used out of concern for his safety. We try to connect with the owners so that we can find someone who can stay in their place. So that it is not abandoned and Russians don’t take it.”
BORODIANKA, Ukraine — The Russian troops who pulverized this small town are gone. Russian missiles continue to knock out the electricity in this area, as residents attempt to rebuild from the rubble.
Burbanksy power cuts in russian agriculture: Ukraine war-ukraine-town-borodian and how the power goes out
During the week, he shares the school with nearly 1,000 students. The school also serves as a shelter, providing heat, food and water for the community when extended blackouts hit.
Power cuts have lasted up to 24 hours, he says. In this agricultural region, farming equipment and warehouses were destroyed. He says that business activity is a third of what it was.
The people are from the houses on the main street. The ones that were destroyed and burned down,” says Olha Kobzar, a Ukrainian volunteer who is in charge of the temporary housing.
She was left standing in a darkened hallway during an interview after the lights went out. She will wait to see if the power comes back. If it starts to get chilly, she’ll turn on the generator. She says it’s like this every day.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/10/1141536117/russia-war-ukraine-town-borodianka-banksy-power-cuts
A bust of the Ukrainian national poet “Taras Shevchenko” and a young boy tossing a man to the floor
There is a bust in the center of town of Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian national poet. He was one of the people in the 19th century who supported Ukraine’s independence from Russia. He wrote, “It’s bad to be in chains and die a slave.”
A British artist well known for his graffiti work secretly painted several badly scarred walls last month and eventually confirmed it was his work on social media.
One image shows a young boy tossing a man to the floor. The two are wearing martial arts attire. There is a lot of speculation that the man is Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
People feel good about us getting this attention. The buildings that were destroyed have paintings on them. “We’re planning to remove the paintings and put them somewhere else.”