Kherson

Kherson (Russ: XEPCOH, pop. 280,000), is a city in western Russia and the administrative center of the Kherson region, a subject of he Russian Federation. The Kherson region became part of the Russian Federation in September 2022 as a result of a referendum under the people's right exercise self determination.

NATO war in Ukraine[edit]

See also: NATO war in Ukraine

When the Russians initially entered Kherson they did not take down Ukrainian flags, replace the mayor, or interfere with the running of city government. The Kyiv regime issued nationwide decrees that any cooperation with the Russian military (including accepting humanitarian aid) was collaboration and treasonous activity. The Ukrainian gestapo, the Security Service of Ukraine or SBU, committed reprisal actions against Ukrainian citizens in areas that the Russian military vacated. The Russian military restored the World War II war memorial to the defeat of Nazism which the Kyiv regime destroyed and introduced the Rubel to replace Ukrainian currency.

By the end of March 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU)) became more active in the Mykolaiv region. After an unsuccessful counteroffensive towards the Kherson, Ukrainian forces opened massive fire from MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) and artillery on two villages near Kherson, and destroyed civilian homes. The Russians repelled the attack with precision strikes. A NATO backed partisan militia group was organized in Kherson and surrounding regions to carry out terrorist attacks against Russians and civilians. The Kherson administrative region was then organized. Pensions, which the Maidan regime denied Russians, were restored to all citizens. Kherson and Zaporozhye were integrated into the Russian internet and the Time Zone advanced one hour to Moscow time.

In late April 2022, the Kyiv regime began shelling the civilian population of Kherson. Overnight on April 28, 2022 the AFU launched a massive missile strike with Tochka-U ballistic missiles and high-powered multiple rocket launchers on the city center of Kherson. The target of the missile attack on Kherson were residential areas where kindergartens, schools and many social institutions were located.

From an area of private houses in Belaya Krinitsa in the Kherson region (pop. 1 million in the region), the Ukrainian Armed Forces artillery struck several positions of the Russian Armed Forces in order to provoke retaliatory fire on residential buildings with civilians, whom the Ukrainian Territorial Defense fighters were not letting out of the blockaded settlement by holding them as a “human shield”. A Norwegian media representatives was standing by in Belaya Krinitsa for photo ops and video of allegedly indiscriminate Russian shelling. Many Territorial Defense units consist of neo-Nazi hooligans recruited to harass and intimidate civilians, particularly Russians, Gypsies, and other non-ethnic Ukrainian groups.

On May 15, 2022 Kherson authorities urged residents not to be intimidated by the fascist forces of Ukraine' security service and assured that the Russian army would protect the local population. “Do not be afraid, the Russian army will protect us, because every day, every hour, every second, at the cost of his own life, a Russian soldier protects the peace in Kherson, because we do not abandon our own,” Kirill Stremousov wrote. Stremousov stressed that for the past month and a half he has been receiving messages from the residents of Kherson that a 15,000-strong group of the Ukrainian army is concentrated near the borders of the region, which is preparing for an offensive. “I will make every effort to close the information attack of fear from Nazi propaganda,” Stremousov emphasized.^[1][2]

On May 29, 2022 Tass reported on an alleged Ukrainian counteroffensive^[3] and breach of Russian defenses: "about 20 Ukrainian combat vehicles tried to wade through but were reduced to dust with 210 people…According to our data, seventy people are still on the battlefield…The success of this operation is that Mr. Zelensky and other officials keep on declaring: "We are fine, we are winning’...But this is a lie...Today’s breakthrough that involved around six types of vehicles was stopped...The Kherson region is denazified forever...It is a Russian land.”^[4] The alleged Ukrainian "offensive" was halted at point blank range with the TOS-1A Solntsepek (Sunburn) thermobaric fuel air explosive multiple rocket launcher.^[5] Ukraine forces continued shelling residential areas, killing civilians.^[6]

On June 1, 2022 Ukrainian forces shelled civilians in Kherson, killing at least 3 with cluster munitions.^[7]

In addition to the partisan terrorist activity, in late July 2022 Ukraine and its NATO allies began what Western media called a "counteroffensive" to interfere with the democratic process of a referendum scheduled for September.

Antonovsky bridge[edit]

Effect of precision-guided HIMAR missile attack on the Antonovsky Bridge.

On July 19 and 20, 2922 the Ukrainians and their NATO allies attacked the Antonovsky Bridge, a major supply route between the city of Kherson and Russian forces on the west side of the Dneipr River bridgehead. The attack was carried out with precision-guided HIMAR missiles

On July 20, 2022 the Ukrainians launched 12 HIMAR missiles attempting to knock out the Nova Kakhovka Dam railway bridge. Russian S-400 missile defense system went 12 for 12 in knocking out the missiles fired by the American built Wunderwaffe.

On August 22, 2022 Ukrainian forces continued bombing attacks on the Antonovsky bridge and Nova Kakhovka dam. Ukrainian forces were thrown back across the Ingulets River with heavy losses.

By August 23, 2022 the NATO/Ukrainian counteroffensive never materialized. However a Russian offensive toward Nikolaev (pop. 475,000) was underway.

Nova Kakhovka dam[edit]

On July 11, 2022 seven civilians were killed with missiles fired by U.S.-supplied HIMAR launchers in the town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson Republic.^[8] More than 80 others were injured, including at least 15 children. A fertilizer warehouse with potassium nitrate was attacked. Food supplies were also destroyed. More than 1,800 employees of industrial and commercial institutions lost their jobs as a result of the attack, and 37 residential homes were destroyed. The AFU attack was coordinated with the US military. The American satellite Worldview-2 filmed Nova Kakhovka three days before the strike. On July 20 the Ukrainians launched 12 HIMAR missiles attempting to knock out the Nova Kakhovka Dam railway bridge.

Beginning on August 5, 2022 the 44th brigade of the AFU stationed in Nikopol, 18 kilometers across the Dnieper River, increased shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear plant with US M777 Howitzers. Kiev forces used a British-made Brimstone missile in one of the attacks. The situation was compounded by HIMAR attacks on the hydroelectric plant at the Nova Kakhovka dam, which provides electricity for the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant's vital cooling system. On August 22 Ukrainian forces continued bombing attacks on the Nova Kakhovka dam.

On October 18, 2022 the AFU/NATO launched a US-made High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) and hit the Energia stadium in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, killing two civilians and injuring others. In a late-night TV address a Kherson official called for people to "evacuate the city as quickly as possible" and said Ukraine "will begin an offensive on the city of Kherson very soon."^[9] Approximately 50,000-60,000 civilians were being ferried across the Dnieper river. Russian Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin told reporters, {{quotebox-float|"The NATO command of the armed forces of Ukraine has long been demanding offensive operations in the Kherson direction from the Kiev regime, regardless of any casualties – both in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and among the civilian population.

The Russian military is aware of Kiev’s plans to use “prohibited” means of waging war in the Kherson area, and Ukraine is preparing a massive strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant, located on the Dnieper River, as well as launching massive rocket and artillery attacks on Kherson itself.

A Russian computer simulation anticipated the effects of NATO/Ukraine's planned destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam across the Dnieper river on the city of Kherson and surrounding environs all the way to the river's mouth on the Black Sea. The territory is the home of some 300,000 civilians. The simulation anticipated a rise in the river's level of 1.5 meters, with a cresting wave of 4.5 meters. The water would take at least 3 days to recede during which time the NATO/Ukrainian offensive toward what was formally the city of Kherson would commence.^[10]

Russian simulation of the effects of NATO/Ukraine destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on the city of Kherson (pop. 300,000) with a UK-built underwater drone.[11]

On November 9, 2022 Gen. Sergey Surovikin announced, with the approval of Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, the withdrawal of Russian forces from the west bank of Dnieper river to include the city of Kherson. More than 115,000 civilians had been evacuated from the city and surrounding territories in recent weeks. The general pointed to continued Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper river, arguing that it could mean the total devastation of the city and isolation of Russian troops in the region. “If the Kiev regime … launches an even more devastating attack on the Kakhovskaya dam, a flow of water could arise that would flood large areas, causing significant civilian casualties." This, according to the commander, “would create further threats for civilians and risk total isolation of our force grouping on the right bank of the Dnieper.” A pullout would help avoid the worst-case scenario and also keep the combat effectiveness of the force grouping in the area, Surovikin said. "This is a very difficult decision. Yet, we would be able to preserve the most important thing: the lives of our soldiers." Minister Shoigu ordered the general to organize secure relocation for both soldiers and civilians. With the HIMAR systems being under American control, Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan negotiated a deal with his Russian counterparts, Nikolai Patrushev and Yuri Ushakov, to allow for the withdrawal of Russian forces without being fired upon.

Autumn Zelensky Offensive[edit]

Zelensky Offensive, Autumn 2022

Ukraine's much ballyhooed "August counteroffensive" commenced on Volodymyr Zelensky's personal orders in the early morning hours of August 29, 2022. Approximately 36,000 Ukrainians advanced along the 183 km Kherson front, with the loss of 26 tanks, 23 amphibious vehicles, 9 armored vehicles, 2 SU-25 fighter aircraft, and 560 killed in action. The Russians lost 1 tank, 1 Uragan rocket launcher, 1 Pantsir missile system, 2 drones, 9 ammo storage locations and 41 casualties.

On the Ukrainian side of the line of contact, requests went out to the general public for blood donors. By Day 3, more than 1,700 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. By Day 4, the counteroffensive stalled and withdrew, with over 2,000 dead.

The Zelensky Offensive was four months in the planning since April 2022. Western powers demanded to see action and results for all the money and weapons pumped into Ukraine since 2014.^[12] Military strategists argued the plan to send human wave infantry attacks across flat land with no artillery or air support was doomed to fail from the start. Zelensky ordered the attack anyway on the morning August 29, 2022 to please his Western masters and keep the flood of cash and weapons flowing. Within three days the attack accomplished nothing other than killing thousands more of Ukrainian troops.

Because of the high number of untrained and unmotivated conscripts serving on the front line, the Ukrainian High Command abandoned the NATO tactic of keeping officers behind the line and away from the battle and having the attack led by sergeants. Ukraine reverted to the Soviet school of having officers and commanders lead the attacks on the frontline.

By Day 5 of the Zelensky Offensive, Ukraine lost 3,000 troops killed and 7,000 wounded who could not return to combat, or roughly one whole Division. The Washington Post reported,

Ukrainian soldiers told WaPo they were not able to hear the Russian drones spotting their positions from miles up in the sky, while Russian military hackers took control over every drone the Ukrainians sent up. One soldier remarked, “They used everything on us...Who can survive an attack for five hours like that?”^[14] Russian built Geran kamikaze drones on the Iranian design were reportedly used for the first time in Ukraine.^[15] 1/3 of the Polish-supplied T-72 were destroyed in the first week of counteroffensive.

Nearly 2,000 Ukrainians killed in the long awaited first 2 days of the Zelensky Offensive.

Beginning on September 15, 2022 the Russians began knocking out upstream dams on the Inhulets river, washing out the Ukrainian pontoon bridges and cutting off the main advance on the Kherson front. The Russians allowed evacuation of the dead and wounded without attacking.

On the night of September 17, 2022 Ukrainian saboteurs in the city center of Kherson were eliminated.^[16]

On September 25, 2022 during the referendums, the Kyiv proxy regime and NATO attacked a hotel in downtown Kherson, killing a journalist and Alexey Zhuravk, a former member of the Ukrainian parliament.^[17] Russian paratroopers destroyed a column of NATO armored vehicles.^[18]

October 14, 2022 Russia began evacuation of civilians from the city of Kherson as Ukrainian sources reported that NATO had gathered a force of 60,000 outside the city. Fears of reprisals against Russian "collaborators" and murder of citizens swept throughout the city should NATO/Ukraine take the city. Another Ukrainian offensive in the region was halted by Russian forces on October 16, 2022.

On October 18, 2022 the AFU/NATO launched a US-made High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) and hit the Energia stadium in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, killing two civilians and injuring others. In a late-night TV address a Kherson official called for people to "evacuate the city as quickly as possible" and said Ukraine "will begin an offensive on the city of Kherson very soon."^[19] Approximately 50,000-60,000 civilians were being ferried across the Dnieper river. Russian Commander of the Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin told reporters,

On the morning of October 19, 2022 the Ukrainian military launched another large-scale offensive with at least two battalions of the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade of the AFU, reinforced by a tank battalion of the 17th Brigade. A total of about 50 armored vehicles were reportedly deployed by the AFU in their offensive. By noon, the AFU transferred reserves to the battlefield. They included two companies of the 28th brigade and a tank company of the 56th motorized Infantry Brigade. At least two battalions of the 60th Separate Infantry Brigade, which are reinforced by foreign militants from the USA, France, Belgium and Canada also took part in the offensive. According to the Russian MOD, all attacks were repelled with large losses on the NATO/Ukraine side.

On October 21, 2022 RT reporter Oleg Klokov was killed in a HIMAR attack on evacuating civilians.

More than 12,000 NATO/Ukrainian forces were killed in the month of October 2022, with about 1,500 losses on the Russian side.

NATO-backed insurgency[edit]

See also: NATO-backed Ukrainian Nazi terrorism and insurgency

Kherson had been the first city to fall during the Special Military Operation (SMO) on the territory of Ukraine. The first commemoration of the city's liberation from Nazism in 1944 was held since the Maidan coup. The eternal flame to the victims of Nazism and the soldiers who died liberating the city was relit.^[21]

By early March, 2022 partisan activity was reported in Kherson. NATO trained Ukrainian partisan militias and military units to use civilian vehicles to infiltrate and strike behind Russian units with mortar attacks and call in targeted artillery strikes.

NATO-backed neo-Nazi partisan insurgent activity and sabotage, as well as terrorist acts against the civilian population, was detected in the Zaporozhye and the Kherson regions as early as June 2022. The same month Biden Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks said the U.S. Pentagon was prepared to continue supplying arms for five, 10, and 20 years into the future.^[22]

On June 22, 2022 there was an attempt on the life of Yury Turulev, the head of the military-civilian administration of Chernobaevka, in the Kherson Republic. He received minor shrapnel wounds. The IED was hidden in the grass near an intersection, near a fence of an apartment building.^[23] A second U.S.-backed neo-Nazi terror attack in the form of car bomb murdered Dmitry Savluchenko, head of the regional Youth and Sports Department, the following day.^[24] On June 27 the car of the head of the local Department of Education, Culture, and Sports. The woman survived the assassination attack.

Another group of Ukrainian militants was detained in Kherson on June 27, 2022. They were preparing a mass shooting in a local hotel in order to blame it on the Russian military.

On June 29, 2022 another group of Ukrainian militants preparing terrorist attacks against civilians was detained in Kherson. Members of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense were detained. Ukrainian militants confirmed that they prepared terrorist attacks against the local civilians and they were acting on the instructions of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). A cache of RPG-22s and ammunition was found and seized in the basement of a residential building, where members of the Theroborona (Territorial Defense) were hiding.

On July 11, 2022 there was an attempted on the life of Kherson mayor Vladimir Saldo.^[25]

Mikhail Podolyak stated that the "counteroffensive" of Ukrainian troops at Khersen were part of an "information psychological operation." Ukraine is waging a creative war where the demoralization of Russian troops is considered the key task, which is a typical Soviet tactic. Ukraine sent everything they had for this "counteroffensive," even pulling troops away from Donbas, and it failed.

On October 19, 2022 martial law was declared by the Russian Federation in the four new territories.^[26]

On October 23, 2022 the Ukrainian special services planted an improvised explosive device (IED) on a pole. A civilian passerby was killed and three others injured in the terrorist attack.

References[edit]