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Ukraine Update: Remembering the liberation of Kherson one year ago [1]

['Daily Kos Staff']

Date: 2023-11-11  

Before the war, Yurii Hlodan was a baker in Odesa. When a Russian missile hit a residential building on April 23, 2022, Yurii’s wife, 3-month-old daughter, and mother-in-law were all killed. That missile, said Yurii, “killed the whole world.” He left his bakery and joined the military, fighting at multiple locations along the front line over the past year. Last week, Yurii rejoined his family while fighting on the front lines in the east.

That kind of tragedy has been so terribly common since Vladimir Putin began his illegal, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. There has been so much loss. So much grief. So much destruction. So much needless pain. Hospitals of expectant mothers, train stations filled with evacuees, and theaters where terrified children sheltered in the dark … all have been destroyed. Happiness, it seems, is measured by the millimeter. Loss by the kilogram.

But that’s not where we’re going today. Today, we’re going to look at something else. We’re going to Kherson exactly one year ago, because in the middle of 625 days of war, there are still some days that shine bright. And none may be brighter than this.

For nine months, Kherson was occupied by Russian forces. They raised Russian flags, installed Russian leaders, and forced children to attend schools where a Russian curriculum was taught in Russian by pro-Russian teachers. On the front lines west of the city, positions seemed even more fixed than they have over the last four months at Robotyne or Bakhmut.

Towns like Snihurivka and Vysokopillya appeared in the Ukraine updates dozens of times, and no matter what happened around them, these Russian “fortress towns” seemed to withstand everything Ukraine could throw at them. Even when it started to become clear over the summer that Ukrainian attacks on the bridges across the Dnipro River were depriving Russian forces of supplies, any sign of progress was delayed over long months. Every day in which Ukraine advanced at a location like Davydiv Brid seemed to be followed by reports that Russian forces had reinforced the area, stalling any movement. Some small villages along the front lines traded back and forth six times or more.

Even after it became clear that Russia really was withdrawing from the area west of the Dnipro River, the extent of that retreat was unclear. Russian soldiers might abandon one village while continuing to hold another only a kilometer away. In some areas, Ukrainian soldiers strolled for hours across the empty countryside, while in others, Ukrainian forces continued to square off with Russian troops at the same line that had held for months.

Finally, finally, came Russia’s hurried and complete retreat. Large amounts of Russian equipment were left in the fields. More was destroyed at muster points as they prepared to cross the river. But in large part, Ukraine was content to sit back and let them retreat, more concerned about the danger to civilians in Kherson than the possibility of destroying a few more vehicles.

And it all led up to this.

One day this will be Mariupol. One day it will be Sevastopol. We don’t know when those days will come, only that they will.

[END]
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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/11/2204882/-Ukraine-Update-Remembering-the-liberation-of-Kherson-one-year-ago?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=top_news_slot_9&pm_medium=web

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