Kherson 'becomes first city to fall to Russia' - but why is it so important?

Kherson in southern Ukraine is a key port city on the Black Sea home to more than 280,000 people.

Overnight its mayor Igor Kolykheav claimed that one week into the Russian invasion the city is now under their control.

After storming the city council building, occupying troops imposed a curfew on residents, he said, leaving them terrified and confined to their homes.

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Speaking to Sky News, one resident trapped in her apartment described seeing soldiers “all over the city” and hearing “a lot of explosions… late at night and early in the morning”.

But despite reports on the ground, UK intelligence officials say that although “Russian forces have entered the city… the military situation remains unclear”.

Where is Kherson and what is it like?

Kherson is one of Ukraine’s southern-most oblasts, or regions.

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It also gives its name to the region’s capital city in the northwest, which is where Russian troops reached this week.

The city of Kherson is home to more than 280,000 people and sits on the Dnieper River where it enters the Black Sea.

Along with Mariupol to the west, it is a key port.

It also borders Crimea, the Russian-occupied territory it annexed in 2014, and Donetsk, home to Russia’s self-styled independent People’s Republic of Donetsk.

More people in Kherson are ethnically Ukrainian and speak the language, but there is also a considerable Russian population.

What is the situation on the ground?

The battle for Kherson began on the first day of the Russian invasion – 24 February.

By the second day troops had taken control of a bridge that connects it with Donetsk – one of two oblasts in the Donbas where the Russians lay claim to two independent republics.

After a week of heavy fighting, Mr Kolykheav, the mayor, said occupying troops had reached the centre of the city, taken control of the main administrative building and imposed a curfew on residents.

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Writing on Facebook on Thursday he urged citizens to comply with the curfew – which stops people from going out between 8pm and 6am and only in groups of two – to “keep the Ukrainian flag flying”.

He said there are no formal Ukrainian forces in the city and he has urged the Russians not to shoot innocent civilians.

“I simply asked them not to shoot at people,” he said. “We don’t have any Ukrainian forces in the city, only civilians and people here who want to live.”

‘It’s very dangerous right now’

Svetlana Zorina, a language teacher who lives in Kherson, is confined to her home with her elderly grandmother and plans to stay there until their food supplies run out.

She described the situation on the ground as “very dangerous right now”.

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“The Russian soldiers are all over the city,” she told Sky News. “A lot of houses are burnt. We hear a lot of explosions, especially at night and early in the morning. It’s very scary.

“We are afraid to leave our houses. Only volunteers or men are trying to leave the house for food and for hospitals.

“I’m planning to stay in the apartment because we’re surrounded by the Russian army and it’s very dangerous right now.”

Russian officials have claimed no residential areas in Kherson have been bombed, but Svetlana said several apartment blocks have been shelled.

Like the mayor, she said there are no Ukrainian soldiers in the city and that between 50 and 60 people who first met forces with homemade Molotov cocktails were shot dead.

There is also currently no scope to join the hundreds of thousands fleeing the country as there is “no green corridor for Kherson”, she added.

“Our mayor is trying to create a green corridor and attract government attention to us.”

Why is Kherson so important to the Russian invasion?

Kherson is of major strategic importance to Russia.

If troops succeed in taking the region and the port town of Mariupol in neighbouring Donetsk, they will be able to link their occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk to Crimea, which Russia has also controlled since 2014.

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Professor Michael Clarke, former director-general of military think tank RUSI, told Sky News: “The Russians are clearly trying to create a land corridor between the territories it occupies in the Donbas through to Crimea.

“At some point the Russians will almost certainly link up this southern area, then they will start to push north up the Dnieper Valley to unite the north and the south of the country.”

Mariupol has suffered extremely heavy shelling in recent days, but a UK intelligence update on Thursday claimed: “Despite heavy shelling, the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain in Ukrainian hands.”

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