Retreating Russians leave desperate civilians in Kherson under constant shelling

Every day is like ‘Armageddon’, says Serhiy who, together with a local soldier patrolling the frontline village, scrambles to take shelter from the jagged boom of incoming fire.There is a tense pause before another louder explosion tears through the air behind them. Crouched beside a partially destroyed post-office, the two men start calculating the distance and direction of fire.This is the desolate village of Novo-Oleksandriva in the southern oblast of Kherson. It is situated on the West Bank of river Dnipro, which cuts this region in half. It is being shelled by Russian forces located just a few kilometres away on the other side of the water.Most of the once-sleepy towns and hamlets in this area are also being targeted from Russian positions around 20 miles south. There, another frontline is raging around the occupied regional capital – a battle so hard-fought by the Ukrainians that the Russians have announced a major withdrawal.But in Novo-Oleksandria, which has no access to water or electricity, celebrating any retreat is premature. The heavy thud of shelling echoes through the air and ashen ground.’There used to be 1,000 people living in this village, and now a few hundred are left,’ says Serhiy, explaining how the town limped through a brutal seven-month occupation and even a ‘referendum’ by the Russians.’Every day there is shelling, mortars, artillery, drones. We have had seven hits this morning. It just gets worse.’The southern oblast of Kherson is pockmarked by the remains of once occupied and now destroyed Ukrainian towns and villages: the scars of some of the fiercest fighting of the war.That is because of how strategically important this region is to President Putin and his invasion of the country launched in February.It was among the first targets of Moscow’s men when they rolled through the Ukrainian countryside swallowing cities in the neighbouring Zaporzhizia oblast, before moving west to Kherson.The Independent has travelled to the edge of Russian-held territoryThe region borders Crimea, which President Putin illegally annexed in 2014 and so offers Moscow a critical land bridge to the Black Sea peninsula, which is home to a huge Russian military force and Putin’s Black Sea Fleet.Kherson’s regional capital- located on the West Bank of the Dnipro about 50km south of Novo-Oleksandrivka – was one of the prized gains of the ongoing offensive and the last remaining regional centres seized during this war that the Kremlin held.But on Wednesday, in the face of continued Ukraine attacks, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from Kherson city as well as all the positions they hold on the west bank of the Dnipro river.It signalled a potentially devastating and embarrassing setback for the Kremlin which has already had to retreat from the area surrounding Kyiv and Kharkiv in the north east.The staged televised announcement of the withdrawal – the culmination of weeks of well-publicised ‘evacuations’ from the city – was met with sceptical caution by Ukrainian politicians and soldiers alike.They told The Independent that while they believed the Russians had to retreat from the West Bank of the Dnipro, as their supply lines were being cut off, Russian forces were still stationed within the city with additional reserves waiting in the region to stage a kind of ambush.Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told The Independent that, until Ukrainian flags are hosted above administrative buildings in Kherson city, everything said by Russia is ‘an information trap’.He later warned on Twitter that Russia would turn Kherson into a ‘city of death’ by riddling its streets with landmines while shelling it from positions they still hold on the east banks of the river.And so soldiers patrolling the recently liberated towns in Kherson say they expect the shelling over places such as Novo-Oleksandrivka to worsen as Russia ramps up its attacks on Ukrainian positions while trying to stage ambushes.’It’s military tricks. Expect hard shelling,’ says one soldier in a liberated town, who could not be identified because he is not authorised to speak to the media.Civilians in the area agree.Valentin says his cousin was tortured by occupying Russians In Arkhanhel’s’ke, a village west of Novo-Oleksandrivka, that is about 15 km from Russian positions in the south of Kherson, civilians are struggling without water, electricity or gas. Marooned by buildings gouged out by shelling, residents describe torture, kidnapping and murders under a 7-month occupation and then life trapped on one of the fiercest frontlines.Valentin 57, who was collecting humanitarian aid on a bicycle, says his cousin had been detained and tortured in a basement under a central block of flats the Russians commandeered. They suspected him of aiding the Ukrainian military because he tried to climb a hill to get a mobile phone network to check in with his family.’They suspected anyone who went there and would take them for interrogation,’ Valentin adds.’They beat people and even used chisels under people’s nails.’Mykola, 60, a railway worker, whose son is currently trapped in Kherson city, says two family friends in the village, a husband and wife Valentin 56 and Larissa, 50 were found shot dead in the basement of their home. Larissa was probably raped before she was killed, he adds grimly.Echoing others within the town, Mykola says living under the brutality of Russian soldiers and knowing how important Kherson was to their invasion, it felt ‘ too early to celebrate’ or trust news of a withdrawal from the regional capital.’Until there is official news that Kherson is liberated, and we see Ukrainian troops inside the city, we are not going to welcome this news yet,’ he adds.Many houses have been destroyed in the area around Kherson during Russian occupationLike others in the wider Kherson oblast, his 33-year-old son and his grandchildren are stuck inside Kherson city. His son – who he declined to name for security reasons – tried three times to evacuate to Ukrainian-held territory but was shot at by Russian snipers and so eventually gave up.Mykola says from the brief calls he was able to have with his son, the situation within the regional capital has become increasingly bleak.’He told me there is no electricity, no water, half the city’s infrastructure is gone and that they don’t have proper internet,’ he continues.There have been reports that Russian flags have been taken down from the city’s administrative buildings, and there were few signs of the Russian military personnel who earlier moved into the apartments of evacuated residents. But Mykola says his son wasn’t certain there was a full withdrawal.Meanwhile, civilians such as his son are under pressure to evacuate to Russian-held territory including Crimea. But there, his son says, they are forcing Russian passports on Ukrainian citizens and then conscripting men of fighting age.Oleksandr helps a fire truck carrying water’That’s why he has stayed in Kherson,’ Mykola adds with a desperate shrug.’I’m extremely worried about him. I am hoping that maybe they will organise a green corridor to get him out. But that is all I can hope for until full liberation actually happens. ‘This echoes other reports The Independent has heard from residents still inside Russian-held Kherson. In one settlement east of Kherson city, a man spoke to The Independent through an encrypted app. We have protected his identity for his safety.He says Ukrainians were being coerced to accept Russian passports, as social support for those who were displaced from other parts of the country and the right to buy property was only being granted to Russian passport holders.’Meanwhile there are no jobs, everything has just stopped, prices are high,’ he adds.Back in Novo-Oleksandriva residents used the breaks between the booms of shelling to try to arrange delivery of water via fire trucks. For them, the coming winter is their main concern.Oleksandr, 61 and Andrei, 44 two mechanics, say without water, or electricity this winter is going to be potentially deadly.’It’s not better to not think about the fighting or any news about withdrawal,’ says Oleksander. ‘We have to focus on surviving this winter.’