New images from the war in Ukraine show Russian attacks on the southern port city of Kherson.
The Ukrainian city sits on a key strategic point between the Crimean peninsula and the rest of Ukraine. It also lies on the banks of the Dnieper River, which divides Ukraine’s east from its west.
The footage from war-watcher account Special Kherson Cat refers to photographs taken by photographer Stas Yurchenko. Three images from Yurchenko appear to show shelling of the river area near Kherson’s Korabelnyi district.
Is Russia Shelling Escaping Civilians?
In Yurchenko’s images, we can see water spray erupting into the air from apparent shelling. There is also a small boat crossing the river, and a home can be seen almost fully submerged under floodwaters from the collapsed Kakhovka dam.
Yurchenko says he took the images while lying down on the asphalt to avoid being targeted by Russian strikes as well.
As Special Cat notes:
“It is reported that Russians are shelling the center of Kherson as well as the ‘Korabelnyi’ district of the city where the evacuation of civilians is taking place.”
Ukraine is trying to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians impacted by flooding in the aftermath of the collapse of the Kakhovka dam. The dam, which is one of the largest in the world, was destroyed on June 6.
Ukraine says Russia targeted the dam, while Russia claims that Ukrainian artillery strikes on the dam are responsible.
More than 3,000 people on the Russian and Ukrainian-held sides of the Dnieper have been evacuated so far. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kakhovka’s destruction was an act of “mass destruction” and will impact 100,000 people.
Ukraine PM: Russian Occupiers Don’t Care
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has sharply criticized Russia for its behavior in the aftermath of the Kakhovka collapse, saying “the Russian occupiers don’t even make an effort to help these people, they have left them to perish.”
Footage from Reuters shows flooding reaching as far as the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, which is about 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the destroyed dam.
As Red Cross officials are now warning, unexploded land mines have been swept up in the Kakhovka flooding and will pose life-threatening danger to residents for years to come.
It is reported that Russians are shelling the center of Kherson as well as the “Korabelnyi” district of the city where the evacuation of civilians is taking place. https://t.co/MCvovWXgRs
— Special Kherson Cat ???????????? (@bayraktar_1love) June 8, 2023
Paul Brian is an author and freelance journalist who has reported for Reuters, BBC and Foreign Policy, and contributed to the Spectator, the Federalist and the American Conservative. He has covered global events from Europe, the former Soviet Union and the Middle East to South America.
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