Inside Kherson, the city liberated three months ago but under constant fire from the Russians- Corriere TV

Lorenzo Cremonesi, sent to Kherson / CorriereTv

At this point the Russians on the other side of the river Dnipro they shoot at any hour and with all the weapons they have at their disposal. You don’t need much, just a pistol, a standard Kalashnikov, artillery and Grad rockets built half a century ago.
I mortars 60mm portables for trench duels appear to be the weapon of choice: between the houses of Kherson from the western part held by the Ukrainians and the eastern one on the coast still occupied by the Russians only the dark stream remains, which in some places is less than a kilometer wide.
They shoot at randomby night and by day, they strike haphazardly: abandoned or still inhabited buildings, clinics and police stations, downtown and suburbs, industries and chicken coops, public parks, streets and schools.
Ninety days ago authority of Kiev spoke with joy of the withdrawn Russia, but today – about 100 dead and 250 wounded civilians later, with the 333,000 original inhabitants reduced to less than 50,000 and the economy on its knees – the retaliation dash hopes of a quick reconstruction and normalization.
Coming to Kherson means to seize the sense of this war which one year after its beginning not only does not end, but actually intensifies and becomes gangrenous. It proves it, among the many signs, the appeal launched yesterday by the American government to its citizens to leave the territory of the Russian Federation “immediately” due to this difficult phase of the conflict in Ukraine, while the challenge for control of Bakhmut in the Donbass it is becoming even tighter (since yesterday it is forbidden for journalists and humanitarian organizations to reach it), and the risk of “arbitrary arrests” or abuses by the authorities.

«The Russian security services arrested citizens americans on the basis of fictitious accusations, legal guarantees have been denied, there are cases of sentences pronounced in secret trials without credible evidence being presented and the accused being able to defend themselves», reads a statement released by the US embassy in Moscow. From the Kremlin they note that it is certainly not the first time that these kinds of people have come from Washington appeals. The most recent was in September, when Putin announced partial mobilisation. There difference compared to then, however, the “special operation” wanted by Putin has now hardened into the rhetoric of his propaganda controlled by military intelligence, which insists on the key of the “great patriotic war” against NATO.

Today in Brussels i members of the Atlantic Alliance are meeting to discuss the need to increase war production and to send more weapons to Kiev, including the possibility of fighter planes. And Putin in his speech to the country scheduled for February 21 will take the opportunity to repeat that now the challenge is no longer with Zelenskybut with his own allies westerners. Thus, the deserted and wounded streets of Kherson give a concrete meaning to the gravity of the Russian aggression.

Last November 11, they resounded with the happiness of the population as they welcomed their victorious troops. “Today Putin takes revenge, it is jealous of our well-being, he fears our democracy and so he bombards us,” says Yuri Plaskin, a 31-year-old who was repeatedly imprisoned and tortured by the occupiers for 8 months. His small pharmacy is located in the supermarket next to the crater of a bomb that on December 24 caused 17 deaths and 64 wounded in the main square. Not far away we meet Johanna-Maria Lehtme, a 34-year-old from Estonia who is involved in helping the evacuations of civilians. She explains: «We are all united against the aggression of Putin. Our secret services in Tallinn ensure that if Russia wins, the Baltic countries will also be invaded in Ukraine within 5 years. This war is our war, the sooner democratic Europe realizes this, the better it will be for everyone».

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