ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine—Explosions shake the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson throughout the day. Internet, electricity and water are sporadic. Prices for basic goods, such as food and soap, are skyrocketing. Hundreds of cars are lined up trying to leave the city. By 4 p.m., the streets are empty.
Ukraine has launched a military offensive aimed at retaking Kherson and upending a key goal of Vladimir Putin’s war: eliminating independent Ukrainian identity. How that liberation effort plays out is a test case for Russia’s efforts to mold the territory and its people in its own image. As Ukraine recaptures territory this weekend in a lightning offensive in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region, residents of Kherson are trying to hang on, waiting for their army to arrive and doing what they can to resist Russification.
“We realize dangerous times are coming,” said Serhiy Ivaschenko, the head of a district in the city who has been going back and forth between Kherson and Ukrainian-held territory. “But it’s the only way to be liberated.”
Two weeks ago, Ukrainian troops began pushing southeast toward the Dnipro River, after weeks of airstrikes on bridges, as well as ammunition depots and command posts. Their aim is to deprive Russian troops of supplies and squeeze them out of Kherson, located on the Dnipro’s west bank.