Serhii Khlan, a member of the Kherson Regional Council, said Ukrainian forces hit Russian air defense systems near the stadium in the city of Kherson. These systems have also been used to bomb Mykolaiv, sometimes with disastrous results. Khlan posted a photo purportedly showing the “remnants of the equipment.” Khlan said there were also further strikes in the Antonivskyi Bridge area, where Russian forces and the pro-Russian command are operating ferries and bridges to resupply the west bank, where thousands of Russian troops remain. He said that in the town of Kakhovka — on the east bank of the Dnipro River — the three streets closest to the river were being forcibly evacuated. He said the Russians “in the city are digging in, setting up concrete trenches.” Khlan said the Russians are “digging in on the east bank, preparing for defense, thinking that this makes our attack impossible. But the resistance movement and the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fight.” Khlan echoed what other Ukrainian officials have argued: that the Russian-backed authorities left the city of Kherson — which is on the West Bank — to set up an office in the city of Skadovsk, much closer to Crimea. “As for the urgent and mandatory ‘evacuation’ that the Russians are calling for, our people are not going anywhere. If the locals didn’t have the opportunity to go to the dispossessed [Ukrainian-held] or they decided to stay at home, they definitely don’t want to go to Russia,” Khlan said.
