Kherson curfew, river ban in crackdown

As the security situation in freshly liberated Kherson remains volatile, the Ukrainian government has imposed a curfew and restricted passage in and out of the city.

Concerns exist that Russian troops currently entrenched on the opposite bank of the Dnieper may resume shelling.

Officials in Kherson have prohibited river transportation from November 13 to November 19.

The evacuees have been warned not to return until their homes have been cleared of mines and other explosives.

Russian munitions litter the area.

The governor of Kherson, Yaroslav Yanushevych, stated that the enemy mined every vital infrastructure.

On Monday, he advised residents to avoid busy areas and stay away from the city center due to demining operations.

The nightly curfew is imposed between 17:00 and 08:00. (15:00 to 06:00 GMT). After the withdrawal of around 30,000 Russian occupying forces, the administration of Kherson has been resumed.

There are also concerns that some Russian soldiers may have remained in disguise, and those who assisted the Russians during the occupation are now subject to prosecution.

Sunday’s artillery barrage in the vicinity of the airport in Kherson served as a warning of the ongoing danger.

President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that the Russians had damaged all of Kherson’s essential infrastructure, leaving the city without heat, electricity, water, and communications.

Ukrainian officials indicate that necessary supplies are gradually arriving in Cherson.

Governor Yanushevych has announced the distribution of firewood to inhabitants of Kherson and surrounding areas, ordering them to submit identification and contact information to get it. In addition, the city council intends to distribute 6,000 tiny stoves to local households.

“The majority of homes lack electricity, water, and gas,” said Yuriy Sobolevskiy, a senior council official.

Friday’s liberation of Kherson was characterized by hundreds of Ukrainians waving flags and embracing Kyiv’s troops with hugs and kisses. Saturday continued with the festivities.

Ukrainians view it as a significant national victory and a humiliation for the Kremlin, comparable to the March Russian pullout from the outskirts of Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials assert that the Russian soldiers engaged in extensive plunder. Since a video emerged showing a Russian soldier tossing a raccoon into a cage within an enclosure – apparently at the Kherson zoo – Ukrainians have ridiculed the amount of theft.

The raccoon meme has gone popular on social media, with Ukrainians transforming the raccoon, a purported Russian prisoner, into a military hero.

Ukrainians made light of a Telegram message from a Russian blogger, Anna Dolgareva, that read, “I was urged to offer some positive news about Kherson, but the only good news is that my friend stole a raccoon from the Kherson zoo.”

According to Oleksandr Todorchuk, the founder of the animal advocacy organization UAnimals, “the raccoon from the Kherson zoo was seized by the Russian command, not just by some naive soldier.” “They moved the majority of the zoo’s collection to Crimea, including llamas, wolves, donkeys, and squirrels,” he wrote on Facebook.

Kherson was the only regional capital conquered by Russia since Ukraine’s incursion in February.

In September, President Vladimir Putin declared the territory, along with three others, to be part of Russia at a ceremony in the Kremlin.

Wagner, whose founder Yevgeny Prigozhin praised the savage assassination of a so-called “traitor” shown being attacked with a sledgehammer in a video that went viral on Sunday, is among the Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine. It has not been verified independently.

The victim identified himself as Yevgeny Nuzhin, and the video, titled “The Hammer of Revenge,” was posted on a Telegram channel named Grey Zone, which was purportedly associated with Wagner.

Seconds before the hammer blows, Nuzhin arrived with his head strapped to a brick and stated that he had fled to the Ukrainian side “to fight the Russians” but had been kidnapped on 11 November in Kyiv.

In a previous YouTube video, Nuzhin explained to Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov how Wagner recruited him and other detainees in a Russian prison.

Mr. Prigozhin, commenting on the video, referred to it as “a dog’s death for a dog” and described Nuzhin as a “traitor” who “did not submit, but planned his escape.”