Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
295,075
edits
Changes
no edit summary
'''Kherson''' is 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 its people's right exercise [[self determination]].
'''Kherson''' is 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 its people's right exercise [[self determination]].
==NATO war in Ukraine==
==NATO war in Ukraine==
{{See also|NATO war in Ukraine}}
{{See also|NATO war in Ukraine}}
When the Russians initially entered Kherson (''Russ: XEPCOH'') city (pop. 280,000), 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 SBU committeds reprisal actions against Ukrainian citizens in areas that the Russian military vacated. The Russian military restored the World War II war memorial in Kherson and introduced the Rubel to replace Ukrainian currency.
By the end of March 2022, the AFU became more active in the Mykolaiv region. After an unsuccessful counteroffensive towards the Kherson Peoples Republic, Ukrainian forces opened massive fire from MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) and artillery on two villages near Kherson, and destroyed civilian houses. The Russians repelled the attack with precise 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 Peoples Republic was then organized. Pensions were restored to all citizens. Kherson and Zaporozhye were integrated into the Russian [[internet]] and the Time Zone advanced one hour to Moscow time.
[[File:Zaporozhye coat of arms.PNG|right|300px|thumb|Coat of Arms of the Tauride Republic.]]
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 are located.
From an area of private houses in Belaya Krinitsa in the Kherson region (pop. 1 million in the republic), 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 territorial defence fighters are not letting out of the blockaded settlement by holding them as a “human shield”. A [[Norwegian]] media representatives was standy by in Belaya Krinitsa for photo ops and video of allegedly indiscriminate Russian shelling.
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,” 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.<ref>https://en.news-front.info/2022/05/15/kherson-authorities-urged-residents-not-to-be-afraid-of-the-ukrainian-offensive-promised-by-kyiv/</ref>
On May 29, 2022 ''Tass'' reported on an alleged Ukrainian counteroffensive<ref>https://www.bitchute.com/video/4pp1CSpemaEJ/</ref> 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.”<ref>https://tass.com/economy/1457511</ref> The alleged Ukrainian "offensive" was halted at point blank range with the TOS-1A Solntsepek (''Sunburn'') thermobaric fuel air explosive multiple rocket launcher.<ref>Also known as a vacuum bomb. A fuel air explosive sucks the oxygen out of the surrounding area and generates high heat. If a target is not close enough to be burned, they are suffocated as oxygen is literally sucked out of their lungs. It is the most powerful non-nuclear conventional weapon in use which causes minimal lasting environmental damage. https://www.bitchute.com/video/hmfPCXHVaHDv/</ref> Ukraine forces continued shelling residential areas, killing civilians.<ref>https://youtu.be/YrNQi1z-nqM</ref>
On June 1, 2022 Ukrainian forces shelled civilians in Kherson, killing at least 3 with cluster munitions.<ref>https://youtu.be/2VG0OksTiAI</ref>
On July 11, 2022 Ukraine and its NATO allies launched a missile attack with HIMARS on the automobile and railway bridge crossing the Nova Kakhovka dam.
On July 17, 2022 a member of the council of the administration of the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, called on the Kiev regime to stop the occupation of the regional center and withdraw their troops. Approximately 70 per cent of the region was under the control of allied forces. At the same time, in the regional center - the city of Zaporozhye - there was a Ukrainian army. Rogov said, "Zaporizhzhya will be liberated. ... A plan is being developed to ensure that the liberation of the city takes place with minimal destruction of infrastructure, despite the fact that Zelensky's militants mined bridges and other facilities. We urge Zelensky to give the order to withdraw his troops and end the occupation of the city," Rogov told RIA Novosti.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20220717140732/https://ria.ru/20220717/zaporozhe-1803000920.html</ref> According to him, the population of the remaining part of the region "is waiting for liberation and asks to be saved from the occupation of Ukrainian nationalists." Rogov claimed that militants, "policemen" and the SBU were conducting "mass raids" in the city:
[[File:Antonovsky Bridge.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Effect of precision-guided HIMAR missile attack on the Antonovsky Bridge.]]
{{quotebox-float|"I urge the residents of the city to be careful. Do not receive [[subpoena]]s, do not be at the registration address, where you can be easily found. If possible, leave the city for the liberated territory. If such an opportunity is no longer available, stock up on food and water, and also find the safest place in the conditions of urban battles, to which Zelensky terrorists who took hostage the civilian population of the city are leading Zaporozhye."}}
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.
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.
{{Anchor|Zelensky Offensive}}
====Autumn Zelensky Offensive====
[[File:Zelensky Offensive, Fall 2022.PNG|right|300px|thumb|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.<ref>https://youtu.be/KF6rUGtSIGg</ref> 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,
{{quotebox-float|"In dimly lit hospital rooms in southern Ukraine, soldiers with severed limbs, shrapnel wounds, mangled hands and shattered joints recounted the lopsided disadvantages their units faced in the early days of a new offensive to expel Russian forces from the strategic city of Kherson...The soldiers said they lacked the artillery needed to dislodge Russia’s entrenched forces and described a yawning technology gap with their better-equipped adversaries...The interviews provided some of the first direct accounts of a push to retake captured territory that is so sensitive, Ukrainian military commanders have barred reporters from visiting the front lines”.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref>}}
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?”<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/07/ukraine-kherson-offensive-casualties-ammunition/</ref> Russian built Geran kamikaze drones on the Iranian design were reportedly used for the first time in Ukraine.<ref>The Shahed-129 and Shahed-136, rebranded the Geranium 2 in Russian nomenclature, is low cost with a range of 2000 km.</ref> 1/3 of the Polish-supplied T-72 were destroyed in the first week of counteroffensive.
[[File:Zelensky Offensive Kherson.PNG|left|400px|thumb|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.<ref>https://youtu.be/U-pTz0ZYbKA</ref>
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.<ref>https://youtu.be/HqIS5Ti9N2A</ref> Russian paratroopers destroyed a column of NATO armored vehicles.<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=or7bhCNncpk</ref>
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."<ref>https://youtu.be/frn2NqZHzbE</ref> 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.
These actions can lead to the destruction of the infrastructure of this large industrial center and massive casualties among the civilian population.
In the ongoing effort to dislodge the Russian military from its positions, Kiev is pouring its reserves ''en masse'' into the frontline.
The vast majority of those reserves are [[territorial defense]] units, who have not been properly trained. Such troops have low morale, thus they are propped up by “barrier squads” composed of hardline nationalists who shoot anyone trying to leave the battlefield.
The enemy’s losses amount to 600 to 1,000 casualties daily.
We have a different strategy. We are not aiming at fast-paced offensives, we spare every soldier and methodically grind the enemy’s attacking forces. This not only minimizes our own losses, but also significantly reduces the amount of victims among the civilian population.
The enemy is the criminal regime that pushes Ukrainian citizens towards death.
We are one people with Ukrainians and only wish for Ukraine to be a state independent from the West and NATO and friendly towards Russia."<ref>https://youtu.be/JjUe14xCZ3U</ref>}}
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.
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.<ref>https://youtu.be/BqV1ts5TIPE</ref>
On October 21, 2022 [[RT]] reporter Oleg Klokov was killed in a HIMAR attack on evacuating civilians.
===NATO-backed insurgency==
[[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.<ref>https://news.antiwar.com/2022/06/13/pentagon-says-ukraine-will-survive-and-the-us-will-arm-it-for-years-to-come/</ref>
[[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.<ref>https://news.antiwar.com/2022/06/13/pentagon-says-ukraine-will-survive-and-the-us-will-arm-it-for-years-to-come/</ref>