Zelensky hails Kherson capture as ‘beginning of end of war’
Volodymyr Zelensky has said the recapture of Kherson is ‘the beginning of the end of the war’ as he marked the city’s liberation with a surprise visit.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the recapture of Kherson is “the beginning of the end of the war” as he marked the city’s liberation with a surprise visit.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg nonetheless cautioned that Ukraine was facing difficult months ahead and that Russia’s military capability should not be underestimated.
The Ukrainian presidency distributed images of Mr Zelensky with troops and singing the national anthem as the country’s blue and yellow flag was hoisted next to Kherson’s main administrative building.
“This is the beginning of the end of the war,” Mr Zelensky said. “It is a long way, difficult way, because the war took the best heroes of our country. We are ready for peace but our peace, for our country it’s all our country, all our territory.”
The Ukrainian President also revealed that Russia had destroyed “all critical infrastructure” in Kherson before its troops retreated.
“Before winter, the Russian occupiers destroyed absolutely all critical infrastructure,” Mr Zelensky said, adding “absolutely all important facilities in the city and the region are mined”.
“There is no electricity, no communication, no internet, no television,” he said. “The occupiers destroyed everything. This is what the Russian flag means – complete devastation.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied that the Ukrainian leader’s visit had any impact on the status of the Kherson region, which Moscow formally annexed in September.
In Kherson, Mr Zelensky said that “the price of this war is high”. “People are injured. A large number of dead. There were fierce battles, and the result is – today we are in Kherson region.”
His visit came just days after Ukrainian troops entered the city – the Kherson region’s administrative centre – after Russia pulled back its forces on Friday.
The takeover is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 hoping for a lightning takeover that would topple the government in days.
Still, Mr Stoltenberg said that “the coming months will be difficult” and cautioned that: “We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia. Putin’s aim is to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter.”
Fuelling concerns that Moscow may have a lingering presence in Kherson, Ukrainian intelligence services said they had detained a Russian military serviceman dressed in civilian clothes.
It said his task was “to gather information, adjust fire on the Ukrainian armed forces and carry out sabotage”.
A senior US military official said it is possible Moscow still had a “small number” of troops on the western side of the Dnipro River.
The city of Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian forces and the only regional capital seized by Moscow’s troops.
Its recapture opens a gateway for Ukraine to the entire Kherson region, one of four that the Kremlin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia.
Mr Putin vowed to use all available means to defend them from Ukrainian forces, hinting at the use of nuclear weapons.
CIA director William Burns meanwhile held talks with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Naryshkin, in Ankara to warn him about the consequences of using nuclear weapons. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman confirmed the meeting, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said it came as “an initiative of the American side,” according to Russian media.
The White House said Mr Burns, formerly Washington’s ambassador in Moscow, was delivering a warning against Russia’s threat to make use of tactical nuclear weapons in the Ukraine war.
The CIA chief’s message was “on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and the risks of escalation to strategic stability,” according to a White House statement.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s forces had retaken 12 towns and villages in the eastern region of Lugansk, military officials. But Russia’s military also said its forces were making gains in the neighbouring region of Donetsk.
AFP
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