Kherson, Ukraine (CNN)  — For eight months, residents of the Ukrainian city of Kherson have been living under brutal Russian occupation. But on Friday, Ukrainian forces swept into the city and Russian troops retreated to the east.

 

The residents have no water, no internet connection and little power. But as a CNN crew entered the city on Saturday, the mood was euphoric.

 

As the crew filmed live in Kherson’s central square, some in the crowd of locals sang the national anthem while others shouted “Slava Ukrayini!” – glory to Ukraine, a patriotic greeting.

 

(more)

 

https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/12/europe/kherson-city-ukraine-russia-intl

 

 

Typical scorched earth policy of the Russian military and its leader.

 

If Russia cannot have it, then nobody can.

 

Bar stewards.

Here is a video of the destruction of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station+bridges connecting east&west banks of the Dnipro River in Kherson region.

 

They also destroyed the electrical sub station supplying power to the city.

You can also see the electricity sub station exploding  after the bridge explodes.  Ukrainian authorities are working to restore electricity&water supply

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSH7yTe8SgA

Strange fact about the population of Kherson: 20% of the population is ethnic Russian, and yet 45% of the population are primarily Russian speakers (according to Wiki). This means that a proportion (about a third) of 'ethnic Ukrainians' in the city primarily speak Russian rather than Ukrainian. I'm trying to get my head around how that could be. 

 

It's not like, say, Indian immigrants in the UK start to speak primarily English rather than Hindi, as English is the ethnic language of the nation, so the adoption is natural. How then can ethnic Ukrainians come to be speaking primarily Russian? I don't get it. Can anyone shed any light on this? Could it be that Russian is actually the original ethnic language of the region and that it has become 'Ukrainianised' more recently?

 

I should mention that similar discrepancies in the ethnic/language populations of many cities in Ukraine are to be found. Demographics is obviously an important issue in this war yet I suspect that few people know the demographic make-up or history of the region.

 

 

 

1 minute ago, Mr Derek said:

Strange fact about the population of Kherson: 20% of the population is ethnic Russian, and yet 45% of the population are primarily Russian speakers (according to Wiki). This means that a proportion (about a third) of 'ethnic Ukrainians' in the city primarily speak Russian rather than Ukrainian. I'm trying to get my head around how that could be. 

 

It's not like, say, Indian immigrants in the UK start to speak primarily English rather than Hindi, as English is the ethnic language of the nation, so the adoption is natural. How then can ethnic Ukrainians come to be speaking primarily Russian? I don't get it. Can anyone shed any light on this? Could it be that Russian is actually the original ethnic language of the region and that it has become 'Ukrainianised' more recently?

 

I should mention that similar discrepancies in the ethnic/language populations of many cities in Ukraine are to be found. Demographics is obviously an important issue in this war yet I suspect that few people know the demographic make-up or history of the region.

I read recently that Moldova is not a Russian language and yet it's mostly written in Cyrillic. I guess the historical reasons for that are similar to the eastern part of Ukraine. Many Swiss speak German so language is not a primary determinant for nationality or ethnicity.

I woud have chosen neutrality with water power and internet.