Volodymyr Zelensky visits Kherson after his liberation: “We are ready for peace throughout the country”

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyhas left kyiv to visit this Monday the liberated city of Kherson, where – he denounces – Russian troops have committed new war crimes. Normality will take a long time to return, even reconstruction. Before, two priorities: locate each of the mines left by the invader in his flight and restore electricity and water in many of the homes.

Kherson’s is the greatest victory. Joseph Borrell, head of European diplomacy, has described it as a “turning point” in the war and Zelensky also sees it that way, after long weeks of reconquest and withdrawal of the enemy. “We are moving forward”, he said upon his arrival, received by applause from the residents, with gestures of euphoria. “We are ready for peace for our entire country,” the leader proclaimed.

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Zelensky has had words of thanks to NATO and the rest of the allies for their continued support. He acknowledges that the delivery of rockets from the United States has made a big difference in tipping the scales. This has not prevented all the damage and there are “corpses of civilians and soldiers”, the work of the “savagery of the Russian army that it also left in other regions of the country”.

Minutes before his arrival, bombardments were heard near the center and as he left, several artillery bursts have resounded in the city, reminding us of the fragility of achievement and the need to continue fighting.

Mined and without electricity or water

Kherson (south), occupied on March 2, was one of the Ukrainian regions -along with neighboring Zaporizhia and the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk-, illegally annexed by Russia, without Moscow ever having achieved total control over its territories.

By his presence in Kherson, Zelensky reinforces his image at the forefront of the resistance, as he did in Izium (Kharkov) in September, or in October when filming outdoors while the Kremlin bombed kyiv Y kamikaze drones they fell a few meters from his residence. Mainly, as he did already in the first hours of the invasion, in February, when he determined that under no circumstances would he abandon his people.

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The military command of the Kherson region, Jaroslav Yanushevich, He has warned these last hours of the danger of stepping on the street, although he understands the impulse to celebrate the new situation: “People come out with flags, express their joy and thanks to our soldiers, but I want to warn everyone that demining is underway in almost the entire city.”

Before leaving Kherson, the Russians, Zelensky recalled in his last nightly address to the nation, “destroyed all critical infrastructure: communication, water supply, heating and electricity”.