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Ukraine

Dmytro Pletenchuk, a press officer, took photos in the aftermath of last weeks devastating shelling in Kherson

Fri 12 May 2023 00.30 EDT

When the barrage began, Dmytro Pletenchuk was outside Kherson railway station. A shell set fire to a train evacuating civilians. Another plunged into the square. Pletenchuk, a major in the Ukrainian navy and press officer for Khersons defence forces, ran to his car to get his flak jacket. He came back to a scene of carnage: a body covered in blankets; a dazed man slumped on the pavement, his foot bleeding; glass everywhere and debris.

Pletenchuk took photographs. Im a professional. I must work. I cant cry, he said. The same morning, the Russians bombed a petrol station, a private building and a supermarket, in one of the worst attacks since the invasion. I saw four dead people lying in the aisle. Red Cross workers rescued a young boy. You could see the bone in his leg, Pletenchuk said.

The devastating artillery bombardment on 3 May killed 24 people and injured 45, two of them children. Pletenchuk took out his mobile phone and showed the Guardian some of the images he recorded on this ghastly day, sent to news outlets around the world and published by Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on his official Telegram channel, with nearly 1 million subscribers.

Zelenskiy described the attack as the work of an evil state and wrote: The world needs to see and know this. He added: A railway station and a crossing, a house, a hardware store, a grocery supermarket, a gas station do you know what unites these places? The bloody trail that Russia leaves with its shells, killing civilians in Kherson and Kherson region. My condolences to the families and friends of the victims. We will never forgive the culprits.

The photos are harrowing. Shrapnel has clawed part of the skull from a shopper; the mangled body of a woman lies amid vegetables and a fallen-over trolley. Plentenchuk shot video as well. One clip includes lurid vermillon puddles and a rivulet of blood running outside the store. With Grad missiles its always the head and legs. I dont know why, he reflected grimly. That day I just saw brains on the ground.

Civilians living on Ukraines frontline are regularly exposed to similar horror. With no end to the war in sight, there is a growing psychological and emotional toll. Pletenchuck said he had bad dreams. In one, he relived Russias devastating missile attack last year on the regional administration building in Mykolaiv where he worked, which killed 37 of his colleagues. I wake up in the part of the dream when the explosion happens, he said.

Other nightmares feature his eight-year-old daughter, Regina. I dream the Russians capture us, something like that. Or that there is an attack and I dont have ammunition and cant find my gear. Pletenchuk said he and his wife, a journalist also based in Kherson, took sleeping tablets. I cant sleep really, he admitted. You hear the sound of explosions at night across the city. Its incoming, and outgoing from our side.

One of the victims photographed by Pletenchuk under a white sheet was 73-year-old Viktor Kuksenko. He had gone to the railway station to collect a relative. His widow, Lyudmyla, said their last conversation was at 1.46pm. When he didnt return, she went to the station to investigate. Two police officers told her there had been a major incident, with multiple casualties, and advised her to go home.

Soon afterwards, her phone rang. There was a call from my husbands number. The voice was a womans. I said: Is he alive or dead? She answered: Dead. She told me to drop by at the morgue the next day. I was in shock. When I arrived, they wouldnt let me see his body. They said his head was bashed in. She added: He was my first love. I was 13 when we met. He was 15. A good, kind, gentle person. We were together for 52 years.

Lyudmyla said she and her husband had survived last years occupation of Kherson, which ended in November when Russian troops retreated across the Dnipro River. Ever since, the city has been a target. We didnt leave because there is a lot of looting. We were worried that someone might steal the little we have. My pension is tiny. Ive always economised. What am I supposed to do now? she said.

According to the regional administration, Russian forces hit Kherson and the surrounding district with 200-600 munitions a day. They use multiple rocket launcher systems, mortars, tank rounds and quadcopter drones that drop small grenades, usually on civilian objects. Serhiy Melashych, a city council worker, said he came under attack two weeks ago when he visited Ostriv, an island district close to the river. He had been delivering humanitarian aid.

A mortar flew over my head. I hid behind a fence, he said, showing a photo he took of a small flechette that had embedded itself in one of the tyres on his car. I have a nightmare where the rocket flies towards me, he added. Before the war, if I saw blood I would be shocked. Now Im not. If you see these attacks often they become a kind of normal. You live with it.

Melashych acknowledged that the war was emotionally very difficult for everybody. I cope in different ways. Sometimes I go and see my family who live in a safe area. I asked them for a cat to keep me company but they joked it would be too dangerous for the cat. Other times I drink a glass of whisky. I tell myself there are worse places to be in Ukraine. At the end of the day I can sleep because Im very tired.

About 50,000 people live in Kherson, from a pre-invasion population of 300,000. Some returned after liberation; others exited last week after the supermarket and railway attack. Olena Velikho, 85, stopping off at a cafe for a bowl of soup, said she was staying put. Im a child of the second world war. It doesnt scare me, she said.

Pletenchuk said the fact that some parents with children refused to leave was a problem. There are no safe places in Kherson, he pointed out. The situation would improve only once Ukraines armed forces had evicted the Russians from the left bank of Kherson province and other occupied areas, he said. Ultimately Russia itself had to be destroyed, to prevent Moscow from launching another war in the future, he suggested.

Since the invasion, the press officer has taken thousands of photographs of ruined buildings, murdered civilians and the twisted remnants of enemy missiles. Pletenchuk said he was considering exhibiting some of them once the fighting was over as a way of processing the horror that Ukraine had collectively endured, and of reminding future generations of Russian war crimes. Its a very big archive, he said.

He was confident that Ukraine would eventually be able to move on from its current cycle of trauma and grief. People feel optimistic. We all believe in our victory and we understand Russia cant win. They dont know what they are doing in our country. They come to Ukraine and die, like slaves. They dont have our motivation. We know exactly why we are fighting.

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I must work. I cant cry: capturing Russias attacks on Ukrainian civilians - The Guardian

[1/2] Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attends a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (not pictured), amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine... Read more

VATICAN CITY, May 11 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to meet Pope Francis in the Vatican on Saturday, diplomatic sources said on Thursday, days after the pope said the Holy See was involved in a peace mission to try to end the war between Russia and Ukraine.

The planned trip has not been officially announced. Pope Francis has given no further information about the peace initiative.

There was no immediate comment from the Kyiv government on reports of the possible trip. Zelenskiy's office never releases details of his travel plans ahead of time for security reasons.

An Italian political source confirmed that Zelenskiy might be in Rome at the weekend and said if that was the case, he would also see Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is a staunch defender of Ukraine, which Russia invaded in February 2022.

News of the planned visit was first reported by Italy's Ansa news agency. It said Zelenskiy was also expected to travel to Germany this weekend.

Since the invasion, the pope has pleaded for peace practically on a weekly basis, and has repeatedly expressed a wish to act as a broker between Kyiv and Moscow. His offer has so far failed to produce any breakthrough.

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met the pope last month and said he had discussed a "peace formula" put forward by Zelenskiy. He said he had also invited the pontiff to visit Kyiv.

Pope Francis, 86, has said previously that he wants to visit both Kyiv and Moscow on a peace mission.

Tens of thousands have been killed, millions uprooted and whole cities have been flattened during the war in Ukraine.

Reporting by Philip Pullella; Writing by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Chris Reese

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Ukraine's Zelenskiy expected to meet pope on Saturday -sources - Reuters

KYIV, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine needed more time to begin a counteroffensive against Russia because it does not yet have enough military equipment from its Western backers, though Ukrainian officials had repeatedly described the assault as imminent.

In terms of personnel and motivation, Ukraines forces are ready for the operation, Mr. Zelensky said in an interview broadcast by the BBC on Thursday, but they are still waiting for some promised hardware from the West, specifically armored vehicles.

We can go forward, and, I think, be successful, he said. But wed lose a lot of people. I think thats unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.

Ukrainian military and political analysts said Mr. Zelensky was right about the continuing shortfalls ahead of an operation that Ukraine and its supporters hope will be a turning point in the war. But they also pointed to other possible motives behind his remarks: to pressure the allies to ramp up deliveries, to lower expectations for the counteroffensive, and to confuse the Kremlin about Kyivs intentions.

For months, Ukraines political and military leaders have been signaling that they are preparing a major push to retake territory seized by Russia since it invaded last year, though they have not said precisely when or where the blow would come. Some analysts have predicted that the counteroffensive would be focused on the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions of southern Ukraine, not in the eastern Donbas region where the heaviest fighting has been taking place for months.

One Russian military leader claimed on Thursday that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was already underway.

Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, head of the Wagner private militia, said it was happening in the Donbas and centered on the city of Bakhmut, where his mercenaries have led a grueling assault that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. In an audio message posted on Telegram by his press service, he dismissed Mr. Zelenskys comments as a ruse.

The counteroffensive is taking place at full speed, he said, adding that it would begin in the Bakhmut area and then shift to the Zaporizhzhia region. He said of the Ukrainians: Those units that have undergone the necessary training, received weapons, equipment, tanks and everything else they are already fully engaged.

Russias Defense Ministry said in a statement it had repelled some Ukrainian reconnaissance in force operations in the east, but described the actions in routine terms and denied that there had been any breakthroughs.

Ukrainian forces have made gains around Bakhmut this week for the first time since March, commanders on both sides have said, but it is unclear whether those reflect opportunistic, small-scale attacks or the start of something bigger.

Mr. Prigozhin has in the past been ahead of Russian officials in acknowledging what is happening on the battlefield, but he has also made questionable claims in his campaign to pry more supplies out of a Russian military command that he criticizes bitterly.

A Russian military blogger, Oleksandr Simonov, who often embeds with Wagner fighters in Ukraine, posted on Thursday that they had made further advances inside the city of Bakhmut, but that Ukrainian troops had forced Russian troops into retreat in two spots north of the city. On Tuesday, the Russians ceded a few square miles southwest of the city.

Whatever Mr. Zelenskys intensions, his point about being unprepared is correct, said Taras Chmut, who heads Come Back Alive, a charitable foundation that provides military supplies for the Ukrainian army. Despite tens of billions of dollars in weapons delivered, with more on the way, the Ukrainian military is lacking in matriel, including artillery shells, armored vehicles and air defense systems, he said.

The amount we gathered in recent months is still not enough for a successful counteroffensive, said Mr. Chmut, a former military officer. But, he added, It is the decision of the senior military command whether to accept the risks.

Maria Zolkina, head of regional security and conflict studies at the Kyiv-based Democratic Initiatives Foundation, said Mr. Zelenskys interview was part political statement to make the Western partners speed up those supplies. She said he was also probably looking to temper any high hopes in case the counteroffensive was not as successful as expected.

But, Ms. Zolkina added, I would not exclude that it was an informational trick as Ukraine is trying to hide its preparations.

Shashank Joshi, defense editor at The Economist, put it more bluntly: Of course this is what youd say if the counteroffensive was about to begin, he wrote on Twitter,

Ms. Zolkina said Kyiv was concerned that if the operation fails to deliver major gains, there could be pressure from some Western partners to negotiate an end to the war or accept reduced assistance.

On Thursday, Britains defense secretary, Ben Wallace, told Parliament that the government would provide Ukraine with air-launched cruise missiles that can strike at a range of up to 155 miles. The Storm Shadow missile, with a 990-pound explosive warhead, would enable Ukraine to launch powerful strikes on targets in Crimea, the peninsula that Russia illegally seized in 2014.

Ukraine has a right to be able to defend itself, Mr. Wallace said. The use of Storm Shadow will allow Ukraine to push back Russian forces based within Ukrainian sovereign territory.

The Biden administration has so far refused to send such long-range munitions to Ukraine, wary of provoking some kind of escalation by Russia. But the war has worn down resistance from the White House, which has agreed to send sophisticated weapons that had previously seemed off-limits, like Patriot air defense systems and HIMARS rocket launchers.

Ben Hodges, a retired lieutenant general who was the commanding general of the U.S. Army in Europe and supports giving Ukraine long-range weapons, said on Twitter that the British cruise missiles would threaten Russias Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol, in Crimea. This will give Ukraine capability to make Crimea untenable for Russian forces, he said.

Ukrainian leaders have insisted that they intend to reclaim Crimea, but for now it may matter more as a staging and supply area for Russian operations in southern Ukraine.

If Mr. Zelenskys comments about waiting to launch the campaign were an attempt at misdirection, it would be in keeping with an information war that has been full of feints and surprises.

Last fall, the Ukrainian military let it be known that it was planning a counterattack in the south, which led Russia to move troops to the south, leaving its defenses undermanned in the Kharkiv region in the northeast. The Ukrainian military command then attacked there, instead, surprising the Russians as well of many of its own troops and recapturing a vast swath of territory in a rout.

As recently as 10 weeks ago, Western weapons deliveries were still falling far short of what Ukraine needed for a counteroffensive, according to classified U.S. military assessments from February and March.

But two weeks ago, the top NATO military commander, Gen. Christopher G. Cavoli of the U.S. Army, said that Ukraine had by that point received 98 percent of the combat vehicles necessary to launch the battle.

Even so, Ukrainian officials regularly say they need more and better weapons. And in recent days, they have sought to manage the expectations of their own people and Western allies, saying that there may not be a single conclusive battle.

It looks like we are in a Hollywood movie, where a great battle for Middle-earth begins, and one battle for Gondor will decide everything, said Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser, making a reference to The Lord of the Rings. It doesnt happen like that.

It is not a matter of one week or one month, he said. This is a question of many events, because one can be more successful, and the other, less successful.

Carlotta Gall reported from Kyiv, Shashank Bengali and Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London, and Lara Jakes from Rome. Oleksandr Chubko contributed reporting from Kyiv, and Anatoly Kurmanaev from Berlin.

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Zelensky, Citing Equipment Gaps, Says It's Too Soon for Counteroffensive - The New York Times

The chief of Russia's Wagner mercenary group Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted that Ukrainian forces have counter-attacked Russian positions around Bakhmut - as the warlord mocked Kremlin defence minister Sergei Shoigu.

'The situation on the flanks is shaping up according to the worst predicted scenario,' Prigozhin said, signalling fresh misery for Putin's troops.

'Those territories, which were taken with the blood and lives of our comrades-in-arms for many months, every day, by tens or hundreds of metres are now being thrown almost without a fight by those [Russian army soldiers] who are supposed to hold our flanks.'

Prigozhin then directly addressed the long-suffering Shoigu.

'Given your super long experience, please can you come to Bakhmut?' he asked sarcastically, poking fun at the defence minister's civilian background in engineering.

President Volodymyr Zelensky sought to manage expectations around the pushback in Bakhmut, telling reporters the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive was yet to begin in earnest and declaring: 'We still need a bit more time.'

But Prigozhin retorted that Zelensky was being deceptive: 'When Volodymyr Zelensky said [the counter-offensive] hasn't started yet, he was economical with the truth.

'It is going full steam ahead - Ukrainian units are attacking successfully.'

Ukraine's deputy defence minister Hanna Maylar added later Friday:'The enemy has suffered great losses of manpower. Our defence forces advanced two kilometres (around one mile) near Bakhmut. We did not lose a single position in Bakhmut this week.'

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko posted a video on social media which appeared to show Russian soldiers hastily retreating amid Ukrainian artillery fire

Pro-Russian military blogger Anatoliy Shariy shared an image of a Russian position that had been deserted and retaken by Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut

Moscow has since denied the reports of Ukrainian counter-offensives in Bakhmut and said the frontline is under control.

'Statements circulated by individual Telegram channels about ''defence breakthroughs'' that took place in different areas along the line of military contact do not correspond to reality,' the Russian defence ministry said in a Telegram post.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov meanwhile told Russian news service TASS that the military operation in the east of Ukraine was 'very difficult' but 'certain goals have been achieved'.

But a series of pro-Russian military bloggers have corroborated Prigozhin's assessment of the battlefield.

Pro-Kremlin Ukrainian blogger Anatoliy Shariy complained that Putin's forces were retreating and deserting their posts rather than fighting to hold their positions.

He highlighted that units of the 9th motorised rifle regiment of the Russian army 'escaped from the forest, abandoning the fortified area and reopening the road to Bakhmut for the Ukrainian Armed Forces'.

At Bogdanovka, the 9th motorised rifle regiment 'ran away, abandoning a significant section of the front with an area of hundreds of metres', he said.

'Why do we need a large-scale counteroffensive, if during local clashes the servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation run away?'

Semen Pegov, a military blogger covering the conflict for the War Gonzo Telegram channel, said: 'At the moment, our units are trying to push [Ukrainians] back - they have not yet managed to gain a foothold, the progress was relatively insignificant.

'However, alarm bells ringing here... [Prigozhin] is right - we can assume that the counter-offensive has begun.'

The owner of the Wagner group raged over the difficult situation in Bakhmut and sarcastically asked Sergei Shoigu to go there and evaluate the situation

57th Ukrainian brigade shoots Grad missile systems, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Bakhmut, Ukraine May 9, 2023

Smoke erupts following a shell explosion, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine in this screengrab obtained from a handout video released on May 7, 2023

This still from GoPro footage shows Ukrainian troops advancing through devastated countryside close to Bakhmut towards Russian positions

Pro-Kremlin military bloggers Anatoliy Shariy and Anastasia Kashevarova were two of several who corroborated Prigozhin's assertion that Ukrainian troops had launched successful counter-attacks in Bakhmut

The US-based Institute for the Study of War released a battlefield update this morning which seemed to echo the sentiments of Russian war bloggers.

'Ukrainian forces continued to conduct successful but localised counter-attacks around Bakhmut on May 11, likely constraining Russian offensive efforts.

'The deployment of low-quality Russian forces on the flanks around Bakhmut suggests that the Russian MoD has largely abandoned the aim of encircling a significant number of Ukrainian forces there,' the Institute concluded.

Meanwhile, Russian war correspondent Anastasia Kashevarova said Putin's troops were incurring unnecessary losses because they were failing to communicate properly with Wagner battalions, accusing them of petty squabbling even on the frontlines.

'Wagner withdrew from that flank, because they had a breakthrough in another place, and the 72nd brigade did not know this. The 72nd had artillery there, but there were no assault troops. And the Ukrainians just went there.'

She posted: 'I have unwound such a tangle of squabbles... everyone is offended with each other.

'Wagner, they say, tried to contact the 72nd [Russian regular army] brigade, but they did not want to interact.

'The 72nd has a ban from the defence ministry on working with [Wagner] - and Wagner are too proud.

'[It's hard] to wade through all this whining.'

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Ukraine 'are already breaking through in Bakhmut', Wagner chief admits - Daily Mail

WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved a number of tanks over into theater so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine's needs for the war against Russia.

The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its militarys specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraines troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russias battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

During Thursday's hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops' hands and onto the battlefield.

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We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection," Austin said.

Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine's needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if thats what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory, she said. We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year.

Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully, Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, China will learn certain lessons."

It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine, Milley said.

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US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule - Yahoo News

The road to Kherson is long, straight and empty. Vacant fields rise from either side.

Entering town from the west, you pass the ATB supermarket, one of the mainstays of the citys shopping. A rocket ripped into it a few days ago, shrapnel slicing into shoppers, killing four.

After that liemore crushed buildings, disassembled by Russian artillery shells.

Death is everywhere, said Halyna Luhova, Khersons deputy mayor.

Indeed, it comes in many forms, and at any time. People have been killed waiting for the bus, waiting for the train, walking to work andin their sleep.

No city in Ukraine has experienced such a reversal of fortune as Kherson, a port on the Dnipro River near the Black Sea. It was seized by Russian forces in early March 2022, then jubilantly recaptured by Ukrainian forces in November. But instead of enjoying the fruits of liberation, Kherson is now a kill zone.

As Ukraine prepares for a critical counteroffensive and builds up troops and supplies along the river, the Russians are hammering it harderthan ever.

Last week was a terrible week, a black week, Ms. Luhova saidon Tuesday. Twenty-seven people were killed, 40 injured.

She was dressed in black and standing outside a funeral home, an all-too-familiar scene. The enemy is an animal, she said.

In front of her stood two open caskets, a mother and daughter, crushed when the walls of their house were blown apart. The mother, in her 80s, had been a nurse during Soviet times. Her daughter, in her 50s, was a teacher.

We cant understand it, said Tamara Smoliarchuk, whose sister and mother were lying in the coffins. Every day they kill us.

Many people here believethe relentless shelling is Russias revenge for losing the city. Last year, Russias leader, Vladimir V. Putin, invested heavily in Kherson, sending in Russian administrators, crates of Russian rubles and even Russian families to turn Kherson into a mini-Russia.

But in November, facing a steady advance of Ukrainian troops, the Russians suddenly pulled out. It was a searing humiliation for Mr. Putin, who, according to American officials, had denied Russian commanders requests to retreat even sooner.

As soon asKherson was liberated, crowds of beleaguered residents flooded into the town square, honking, hugging, kissing, singing patriotic songs and crying deeply repressed tears of relief.

Images of the celebrations were beamed around the world, and some Ukrainians allowed themselves to believe that Kherson might be a symbol of something bigger, maybe even the beginning of the end of their horror.

But the Russians didnt go far. They pulled back just to the other side of the river and now blast across the water, sometimes less than a mile away, with tanks, artillery, mortars and rockets. Ukrainians say that Russians are also using warplanes to bomb villages around Kherson. When the Ukrainians shoot back from their artillery positions within the city, that just draws even heavier Russian fire.

More ordinary people are getting killed here than anywhere else except perhaps along the front line in the eastern Donbas region, according to daily reports from the Ukrainian military. Officials in the Kherson region said that since liberation, at least 236civilians have lost their lives. The city itself has been shelled more than 2,000 times.

Last week, a team of de-miners, guys who had stuck together through some very dangerous situations, was working in a windswept field on the outskirts of town. A Russian drone spotted them. It dropped a grenade. The grenade ignited a pile of mines. Local officials said six men were killed, in an instant. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the total number of dead was nine.

Military analysts say the Russians may be bombarding Kherson to frustrate any plans the Ukrainians have to cross the Dnipro River, a watery front line. In the past few weeks, as the counteroffensive looms, Ukrainian commanders have bolstered their forces across the south, readying new brigades and new European- and American-supplied weaponry. Ukraine is under immense pressure to show progress on the battlefield, fearing that if it doesnt, it will begin to lose Western support.

Up and down the marshy riverbanks in Kherson, Ukrainian forces are eying Russian positions just across thewater. Small teams of Ukrainian commandos have picked up the tempo of their cross-river raids, residents said, and at night orange fires burn on the horizon.

But the militarys plans remaintop secret and mysterious even to the people who live here.

Ms. Luhova, who had served as Khersons mayor for much of the past year but became deputy mayor in a recent reshuffle, pointed to another danger: betrayers.

There are people still among us calling in positions, identifying where our troops are, trying to target me and other officials, she said. She herself has nearly been assassinated six times.

We should kill them,she said. Im serious. We have to kill them. They have no right to live. It is because of them people are dying.

While millions of Ukrainians have returned home recently to towns across the country, that is not the case in Kherson. People are leaving, businesses are closing, long city buses chug past with only three passengers inside. Bus stops are now fortified with sandbags, but people are still getting killed just trying to make it home. This city used to have 300,000 people. Now, maybe 50,000. Or fewer.

The civilians who remain are those who need the most support, Ms. Luhova said, such as the old, the infirm and those with addiction problems people who, when it comes to getting to a safer place, dont have the resources or the will.

Andriy Nemykin, the nephew and grandson of the two women whose funeral was held on Tuesday, said he had tried and tried to persuade them to leave. He lives in Kyiv, the capital.

There were so many words, he said. But they always said: Where? Where will we go? Nobody needs us.

Ms. Luhova and other city officials have organized evacuations. But these days, even with the heavy shelling, there are few takers. A sense of stubborn fatalism runs through those who have chosen to stay, including Ms. Luhova, who says: The people here need me.

The women who sweep Khersons streets now wear body armor. They say its bulky and heavy, but they dont want to take it off.

I have this fear that Im not going to have enough time, that Im going to die soon, said Liudmyla Chaika as she leaned on her broom near a small pile of flower petals she had swept together.

I cant get used to this shelling. I feel the danger, she said. But where, where am I supposed to go?

She said that she slept with her dog, Kraz, for comfort and that he seemed to take comfort in it, too.

Even on a sunny day, Kherson feels eerie, especiallythe main square. Not so long ago, itwas crammed with so many happy people that it was hard to walk across. Now, it lies deserted. It looks enormous. It stands as a heavy presence in the center of town.

But Im not worried, said Tetiana Yudina, a shop manager, as she walked past. I hope No, she corrected herself. I believe, I know, she emphasized, that everyone will come back.

Anastasia Kuznietsova contributed reporting from Mantua, Italy, and Evelina Riabenko from Kherson.

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Death Is Everywhere in a Once-Jubilant Kherson - The New York Times

Britains defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has confirmed reports that the UK is donating long-range Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine. Wallace said Ukrainians will have the best chance to defend themselves.

The US has serious concerns about the docking of a sanctioned Russian cargo vessel at a South African naval port in December and has raised those concerns directly with multiple South African officials, state department deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters. The US envoy to South Africa said he was confident a Russian ship had picked up weapons in South Africa, in a possible breach of Pretorias declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. South Africas government has begun an independent inquiry into the claims.

Polands defence minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, confirmed that the army was aware of a possible missile heading towards the country in December but failed to inform the government. Poland has been on alert for possible spillover of weaponry from the war in neighbouring Ukraine, especially since two people were killed near the border last November by what Warsaw concluded was a misfired Ukrainian air defence missile.

Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the country needs more time to prepare for a much-anticipated spring counteroffensive, saying: We can go forward and be successful. But wed lose a lot of people. I think thats unacceptable. So we need to wait. We still need a bit more time.

Zelenskiy said the army had combat brigades that were ready, but were still short of promised armoured vehicles, which were slowly arriving. He stressed that Ukraine was not prepared to cede any territory for peace, saying: Everyone will have an idea. They cant pressure Ukraine into surrendering territories. Why should any country of the world give Putin its territory?

Zelenskiy again denied any Ukrainian responsibility for the drone incident over the Kremlin, saying: They constantly look for something to sound like a justification, saying: You do this to us, so we do that to you. But it didnt work. Even for their domestic public, it didnt work. Russia has accused Washington and Kyiv of masterminding the attack, which it described as an assassination attempt on Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Putin was not in the Kremlin at the time, and no injuries were caused by the drones.

A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counteroffensives. Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraines ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram. He said: In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometres.

Russias military operation against Ukraine is very difficult but certain goals have been achieved, Tass cited the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, as saying on Wednesday. Russia has succeeded in severely damaging Ukraines military machine and this work will continue, he added.

A Ukrainian drone attacked an oil storage depot in the Russian border region of Bryansk, the local governor has claimed in a post on his Telegram channel on Thursday. There were no casualties after the attack on the facility near the town of Klintsy, owned by Russias Rosneft oil company, though one storage tank was partly damaged, the governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said.

Belgorods governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, claimed that seven settlements in the Russian region have been left without electricity after Ukrainian shelling over the border.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraines governor of Donetsk, claimed that in the last 24 hours Russians have killed three residents of the Donetsk region, and injured two more.

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Russia-Ukraine war: UK to send long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, says defence secretary as it happened - The Guardian

Gerhard Fritz Kurt Schrder

According to the report, Polands National Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating if Schrder may have used his position in the Russian energy sector to exert undue pressure on EU countries and Ukraine. In particular, theres concern that the former chancellor could have used his influence to help Russia browbeat the EU into refraining from supporting Ukraine militarily.

Read also: Duda comments on possible Russian missile crashed in Poland

Documents from the case indicate that Schrder did not sever ties with the Kremlin after the beginning of the full-scale invasion and continued to hold positions in Russian state energy companies until the European Parliament threatened him with personal sanctions.

Read also: Kremlin wants Russians to think big attacks on Ukraine are a victory, says Zelenskyy

On May 20, 2022, Schrder resigned from the board of directors of Rosneft, after the European Parliament announced the former official was facing personal sanctions.

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Poland investigates former German Chancellor Schrder's involvement in Russia's invasion of Ukraine - Yahoo News

Ukraine and Russia issued conflicting accounts of the situation on the front lines in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, where monthslong intense fighting for control of the city of Bakhmut continues, with Kyiv claiming advances while Moscow says its troops are holding the line.

RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's full-scale invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensives, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Amid Kyiv's preparations for a long-anticipated counteroffensive, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar said on Telegram on May 12 that Ukrainian forces had advanced 2 kilometers in the Bakhmut area without ceding any ground elsewhere to the Russians.

In turn, Russia's Defense Ministry said its troops had fought off several Ukrainian attempts to overrun their positions while pounding the Bakhmut-Avdiyivka-Maryinka front line that has seen the fiercest fighting over the past several months.

Neither side's claims could be independently verified.

On May 11, Russia denied reports of Ukrainian advances in several areas near Bakhmut, although such reports came from pro-Moscow military bloggers and from Kremlin-connected Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner mercenary group that has been deeply involved in the fight for the city.

Prigozhin went as far as to claim on May 11 that Ukraine's counteroffensive was already under way, though President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said more time is needed to prepare for any such move.

Nonetheless, Ukraine's preparations for a counteroffensive received an important boost on May 11 when Britain announced it was supplying long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, giving Kyiv the capability to hit Russian troops well behind the front lines. Storm Shadow missiles have a range of more than 250 kilometers.

But Kyiv has remained tight-lipped about its plans, with Zelenskiy saying his forces still lack enough Western weapons to succeed without suffering too many casualties.

In a message on Twitter on May 12, Zelenskiy said that while Ukraine's path ahead remained difficult, the country was "stronger now than at any other time of the confrontation with this empire," before ending with message by saying, "Our time is the time for victory!"

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Moscow Denies Ukraine's Claims Of Frontline Advances, Says It Has Repelled Attacks - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty

A screenshot from aerial footage posted by Ukraine's 3rd Separate Assault Brigade on May 9, 2023. 3rd Separate Assault Brigade/Telegram

A Ukrainian battalion says it has chased Russian soldiers out of part of Bakhmut, sharing a video of fleeing troops along with claims that it retook around three square miles on Tuesday.

The graphic footage from the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade features various aerial scenes of troops running through fields and being chased down by armored vehicles, as well as on-the-ground footage of fighting and dead bodies.

The footage is intercut with clips from an earlier video by pro-Kremlin Wagner Group founder Yevegny Prigozhin, who said that a unit from Russia's traditional armed forces had abandoned its post in Bakhmut.

"Our army is fleeing," he said. "They are fleeing because the 72nd [Motorized Rifle] Brigade has thrown three square kilometers down the shitter, and we lost around 500 men there."

Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda shared the video on Twitter:

The mercenary boss had also said the troops had "exposed a front almost two kilometres [1.2 miles] wide and 500 metres [0.3 miles] deep," per Ukrainska Pravda's translation.

Ukrainian forces seized on the tirade, writing in their post that Prigozhin's words were "true," while adding that they were "grateful" for the extra publicity he had provided.

The brigade said that the action took place over two days of fighting in the city's southwestern outskirts.

In a separate Telegram post, Azov Regiment founder Andrii Biletskyi said that an area around three square miles was "completely liberated from the Russian occupying forces," per Ukrainska Pravda's translation.

Biletskyi said that two companies within the Russian 72nd Brigade were "completely destroyed."

The Ukrainian brigade in question was formed out of Azov veterans.

The brigade also claimed to have destroyed anti-tank missiles, mortars and a BMP infantry fighting vehicle.

The claimed assault, which was also reported by Ukrainian state broadcaster Suspilne, has not been independently verified.

While Prigozhin said that it was a Russian Army unit that had failed to hold its ground, the Ukrainian brigade said that Wagner mercenaries were among the casualties.

As well as celebrating an apparent victory, the video capitalized on the latest flurry in the mercenary chief's own war of words with Russia's military leadership.

Prigozhin has complained of a lack of supplies and logistical support with increasing fury in recent months, and his private army remains the main force attempting to take the city.

In an expletive-ridden rant shared on Friday, Prigozhin said he would remove his troops altogether a threat he later walked back after receiving a promise of more artillery shells from the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Despite the claimed Ukrainian gains, earlier reports suggest that Russian troops still hold a significant portion of the city.

Prior to the 3rd Assault Brigade's videos, Prigozhin claimed that his troops had gained 420 feet of the city on Monday, and that Ukraine controlled less than a square mile, according to US think tank the Institute for the Study of War.

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Video: Russia soldiers appear to flee Bakhmut, cede ground to Ukraine - Business Insider