so wait, goodbye, a year after the liberation, what is the life of kherson, which ukraine returned to its control on november 11 , 2022, we are talking about this on the bbc, with you in the studio of irena taraniuk. to the heroes, right in the center of kherson. a year ago they welcomed the ukrainian military. the euphoria of the return of ukrainian power was replaced by hard times for the city's residents, under regular russian shelling. how is kherson living now and how to stop the destruction of the city? in the chronicle of any war there are dates that are forever etched in history. for kherson. the only one

of the ukrainian regional center occupied by the russians at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, such a date is november 11. armed forces, armed forces, armed forces. in these archival shots, kherson's freedom square. the residents of kherson greeted the ukrainian military with hugs, flowers and blue-yellow flags. after eight months. russian occupation. the residents of the city, who lived under strict information and security control of the occupation authorities for more than six months, at first could not believe that kherson had returned home to ukraine. on that cold november day on the streets of the city optimism and euphoria reigned. however, by the end of the month, having regrouped on the left bank of the dnieper, russian forces began shelling kherson and striking the city and the region. aerial bombs and

missiles. the first russian artillery strikes began on november 20. in december, shelling became more frequent on the eve of the holidays. one of the deadliest was the attack on the city center on december 24, when 13 people died and dozens were injured. kherson also suffered from flooding as a result of the explosion at the kakhovskaya hes in june. the building of regional, state, and now the military administration came under fire twice after being released. in connection with the proximity of russian forces on on the other bank of the dnieper, shelling of the kherson region does not stop. last month, a guided aerial bomb destroyed a hospital in beryslav. and already this week, the kherson region was bombarded with a record number of aerial bombs. but it is very important that despite the proximity of danger, life goes on. and according to information from the kherson city council , 255 babies were born in the city in the year since liberation. a year ago, immediately under... after

the liberation of kherson, he came there to look for his people relatives, my colleague, dmytro vlasov. this is what he remembers from those days. it is still difficult for me to describe the impressions i felt, because i wanted, i dreamed, i saw in my dreams, i waited every day, reading all the feeds from different resources, news, i waited for this time when it would finally be possible to arrive, and when he came, i could not believe that it is finally de-occupation, this is the time, i can freely visit all my places where i lived, was born, where my relatives, friends live, and above all i visited my grandmother, who was at that time he was 94 years old in chornobayivka, i i told her the good news that they were finally free, and the next thing, i went to kherson itself, and on the way i already saw people who started to chant, cars honked, people shouted, people took out flags.

they rejoiced, hugged on the street, met the armed forces of ukraine with hugs, kisses, tears, gifts, whatever they could, it was so sincere, so incredible, the atmosphere was really incredible, it was like a football world championship, ukraine would win, or something festival, but it was the kind of unity that i still have in 25 years of my career i never saw it before, just a few days after the liberation it became clear that kherson would be shelled by the russians, it started indiscriminately, massively and more and more, and now, since my last visit at the end of the summer, the number of shelling increased many times, and the russians began to shoot not only from artillery and the russian federation, but also guided... aerial bombs and various

types of missiles already in the city itself, it is difficult to say which place they have not yet hit, but most often it is these are schools kindergartens, squares, places where humanitarian aid is distributed, hospitals, cafes, infrastructure facilities, depots, wherever people can gather, there is a threat that there will be some kind of blow, that is, even if you travel around the city, you have to think about whether you should i really want to go to this or that area, how is it better to get there, how is it better to move, from which side of the water, so that you can protect houses, trees and not damage anything, where is it better to park so that the car remains intact, well, in general, the value of those or other movements, it was dmytro vlasov from kyiv, and

we talk more about the situation in kherson with military and political commentator oleksandr kovalenko, who joins the broadcast. oleksandr, i congratulate you, listening to my colleague dmytro vlasov, it is impossible not to feel this atmosphere. which was a year ago, looking back on the past year, how do you assess the significance of the liberation of kherson? of course, this is very important , the liberation of kherson itself was important, because we remember that when the right-bank kherson region was occupied, together with kherson, there was a huge threat not only to others regions, for example, the mykolaiv region, mykolaiv, which was constantly under fire, and there was also a threat... that the russians would go further to the odesa region, capture odesa, and this occupation, it would have a direct exit to transnistria, to transnistria i, this will be a threat to moldova, that is, this is exactly the way they aimed from

the very beginning of their full-scale invasion, the kherson region, it became a kind of barrier to stop their advance in the southern... western direction and the liberation itself of the right-bank kherson region, it provided an opportunity to form those lines of defense, that defense that does not allow the russians to go beyond the borders of the right and left bank of ukraine, on the other hand, we now see how some very interesting events are also taking place on the left bank of the kherson region, which allow us to speak in perspective ... assets that the terror that was carried out in 2022 against mykolaiv and the mykolaiv region, and now kherson and kherson and the kherson region by the russian occupiers, and it will be possible to avoid it precisely

at the expense of creating at least a buffer a zone that will not allow the city to be bombarded with multiple rocket systems, because the russians use rocket... multiple rocket systems, such as the bm-21grad, in order to constantly bombard kherson, because these systems allow to minimize counter-battery combat and their own destruction in response the russians know this, they quickly deploy them, shell the city, even without aiming, indiscriminately, just on residential blocks and leave the position before valeria can respond. alexander, you know looking back at this one. it is a pity that this buffer zone mentioned by you was not created earlier, that is, there was no opportunity to create this buffer zone earlier in order to protect the people of kherson from russian shelling. please tell me, what lessons can be learned from the de-occupation

of kherson for the future, in your opinion? well, i will say so, to speak in military, military science, military. plan, the russians are currently using those means that they did not use in 2022, for example, when the right-wing kherson oblast, there were no drones, guided aerial bombs, which they are now using massively, even on a record massive scale, october in general became the month when they used drones so massively, more than 1165 aerial bombs and most of them in the kherson region, and that is why they are trying adjust and adapt, and we must constantly learn and improve our tactical capabilities, but in addition to tactical capabilities, we also need to improve technological

capabilities, namely, we have a new problem, cabs, we must somehow counter them they, first of all, oppose russian aviation, front-line bombers, for this you need air defense, for this you need other means of defeat, aviation, in the end, precisely of the western, modern high-tech type. thanks alexander, but now is the time to celebrate. the release of kherson oleksandr kovalenko, a military and political commentator, was on our air. western military observers predict a winter freeze of the front line. renewed attempts by the russians to storm avdiivka caused a new wave of refugees, and the russians the shelling of kherson forced part of kherson citizens to flee away from the bombs already after the liberation of their native city. many of them settled nearby in odessa. bbc correspondent jenny gill talked to them. on the changing waves of continuous war, fear and losses came to

odessa. this coastal city has become a refuge for those fleeing from the frontline areas. nina survived the second world war, and now, at the age of 91, she has become a refugee again. i could not sleep in kherson, i could not eat. there were explosions, i want to die in peace, not in war. alone, among strangers, they are waiting for help. the humanitarian center is full of work, the workers are busy amidst this pain of destroyed lives. almost everyone who arrives here does not have even the bare necessities, some told us how they were forced to flee under shelling, these people are scared and shocked, this is where it has to start. their new life, which is what the refugees were forced to leave behind, once a lively, turbulent

life, now ghost towns, those who did not leave under constant shelling, very dangerous, constant guided aerial bombs dropped by the russians up to 40 per day or more, artillery fire, mortars, tanks. fierce bloody battles continue along the entire huge front line, usually they take place several kilometers from the ground. the ukrainian counteroffensive is advancing slowly, and russia is also attacking. one of the ukrainian units defending avdiivka sent us footage of their battle. according to reports. russians suffer huge losses, but ukrainian soldiers also die. one can

only imagine the fear this family feels. daria knows that her husband was sent to fight in avdiivka, and he hasn't been in touch for two weeks. the memory of how she waved his hand to see him off to war does not leave daria. i saw him on the nose. he got on the bus, and i stood there and cried for a long time. i am still haunted by the feeling that that was the last time i saw him. it hurts to talk, it's hard to listen. those who share their stories are only asking for the world to hear them. such is the reality for those who were forced to leave their native home in kherson, already after the liberation of the city from the russian occupation. and our program is an opportunity to once again immerse yourself in the atmosphere of euphoric celebration that prevailed in kherson. a year ago , jeremy bohlen, an experienced bbc war correspondent, was with the kherson people in those days. here is a fragment of his report

shown to a global audience in november 2022 . the central square there was still crowded with people rejoicing at the retreat of the russians. they celebrated that they survived and did not surrender. at first quietly, then louder, people joined in singing the national anthem of ukraine. their filled with emotions. the occupation left deep scars here, despite all the significance of ukraine's victory in kherson, it would be easier if it meant that people here could plan for peace, but they can't, because the war in this city is not over yet. this is how kherson was a year ago, and we say goodbye to you on this, have a good weekend, all the best.

greetings friends, we are working live, this is the verdict program, my name is serhiy rudenko, i wish everyone good health and a good evening, from now on weekdays the verdict turns out in a two-hour format, we work from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., we talk about everything that interests you, dear tv viewers, and of course we talk about what interests those in power and us journalists, in particular, today we will have a journalism club, because i will have three of the best journalists of ukraine as guests, and we will discuss the events of the week, what happened, in what way it happened, so today we have olga len, the host of the tv channel, as a guest,

i congratulate you, olga, good evening, marina danylyuk yarmalayeva , journalist, blogger, the author and host of youtube channels cenzo. net and show bisyky. marina, i congratulate you. greetings to you, serhiy and all espresso viewers. bohdan butkevich, tv presenter, author and host of youtube channels and show business. bohdan, congratulations. i congratulate you, mr. serhiy, you and the audience. it is very nice to see you all on the air. during the program, we conduct a survey and ask our tv viewers whether you trust the head of the armed forces of ukraine, zaluzhny. we conduct polls both on the youtube channel and by phone lines throughout our broadcast until 10:00 p.m., so we ask about this, do you trust the head of the armed forces of ukraine zaluzhny, yes, no, and if you will vote by phone, you can call 0800, 211-381, yes, no, 0,800, 211, 382 all

calls to these phones are free, well, of course, let's start with one of the topical topics of this week, because the head of the armed forces of ukraine, valery zaluzhnyi, came under hate, and we witnessed the public hate of the general, dozens of posts on social networks, people's deputies from the servants of the people, politicians who were once power, but now not, everyone began to write about zaluzhnyi, then the topic of zaluzhnyi and what is being written about him in ukraine was already picked up by the russian mass media, the rashists also began to write about zaluzhnyi, what is happening, friends with the commander-in-chief, or around

the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of ukraine, and who is this the story sucks, in your opinion, let's start with... olga, olga. well, it's obvious that this story has been pushed for a long time and persistently by the russians , because, well, to somehow denigrate the commander-in-chief of the enemy forces, well, it's, well, literally a rosy dream during any war, obviously, but despite this, well, it is clear that, you know, this is an informational and psychological operation, after an attempt somehow there, tell something like that. around zaluzhno, tell about the fact that the military is preparing a coup somewhere, or that there are some, just terrible differences between the views there, the president and the head, all this, well, i have the impression that the victims of this epso in the first place became some

group of people around the president, do they watch too many russian sources of information? i don't know if they are just on them it is somehow very hard that, as it should be during the war, the head is respected in the country, instead of being happy about the fact that we do not have a problem of trust in the army, for them it is some kind of constant problem, something that arises they don't have, you know, an ineradicable confusion about it, as if they are trying to compete with him in something, well, it's not often. for this competition, well, it is absolutely not suitable, moreover, i would say that it absolutely cannot be called just a healthy criticism, something else, because after all those conditions, for the existing equipment of the army, for the resources we have, for the opportunities

available in the country, given the forces that russia throws at it, our defense. in principle, it is very successful and only to explain the fact that some part of this political environment suddenly rushed to look for an enemy in the head of the committee, well, it can only be explained by the fact that for some reason they decided that the issue of the war was resolved, now it is necessary to resolve political issues, such as the issue of elections, the question of strengthening power, well, this is a big mistake, because it is a question of war. not decided, we are in a very difficult phase of the war, we still have not decided, in general , the question of the survival of the country, still not finally decided, because it can be anything... will change at any moment and therefore we have to deal with winning , and not by deciding how you will live after the war, well, then, that is, it is not about

competition, but about jealousy, political jealousy, as i call competition, but it is so, it is political jealousy, which is just absolutely, well inappropriate in a situation when you still need the army and its command to be trusted, thank you, maryna, i know that you have quite... meticulously analyzed this week, especially what was related to general zaluzhny and how this topic was played both in social networks and in the media, because we also saw the columns that appeared in online publications, where they wrote about the fact that the hard worker is not good at something, does something wrong, how and in what way it all happened, and most importantly, what is the ultimate goal of this, internet bullying, i would say so, of the commander-in-chief during the war, it's good that you mentioned the column, because today i

wrote about a very interesting site on espresso a column, a nuance, about why maryana bezugla acts as such an information teran in this matter, and as you could see, her last throw was about the fact that it is the commander-in-chief and the general staff who seem to be engaged in alcoholism, among high-ranking officers, and it happened like this, that precisely the post of a people's deputy, a majority member from oboloni, from the servant of the people party, was very powerfully spread by the russian media, and olga skabiyeva also paid such meticulous attention and even wrote an entire post on a telegram, and maryana bezogla decided, let's put it this way, it was the so-called russian to complete it... the vso reposted it on its page and said: "well, you see, we can't tell the truth, so that's how it turned out."

in fact, i think that all this is not accidental, because there is such an attempt to denigrate the armed forces of ukraine, to denigrate those bright stars of ours who are now the faces of the army, it is not only valery fyodorovych zaluzhnyi, it is also oleksandr syrskyi, it is also budanov, it is also even. other more or less recognizable media personalities. why so? because we remember what state ukraine was in the army for more than 30 years, and let's say this, despite the fact that now is a full-scale war, first of all, ukrainians in all sociological surveys demonstrate that they trust the army, they are proud of the army, and if you analyze this closed sociology that the president's office does, too on order to measure the temperature in the palace, on average in the country, it is the rating of the armed forces of ukraine that remains stable, and even in some places its numbers there are getting higher with each survey, and therefore it is obvious that the not-so-distant

political technologists of the office of the president of ukraine , a these are quite people of such low quality, very often you know it, such political second-hand, which was opened somewhere on the fifth garbage landfill, who are trying to play games and scenarios, but the point is that these sketches, these information campaigns, they are now only playing into the hands of the armed forces of ukraine and the general i listed, why so, because this teflon effect has now passed to the armed forces of ukraine and to those people who are the brands and faces of the armed forces of ukraine. that is, all these games that played into the hands of volodymyr zelenskyi in 2019, they are playing already to a completely different cohort of persons, military figures, that is why i very sincerely sympathize with the team of short-sighted political technologists who work in the office of the president

of ukraine, because with each such scandal, scandal in society , construal versions will spread, and, let's say, there will be fewer ukrainian citizens to believe that there are some psosiyan campaigns out there, that there are some fsb campaigns out there, excuse me, here is maryana's post, which she - in fact, gave to olga skabieva, and then also reposted all these illusions of olga skabieva here on the page, very much shows that very often russian ipso are born by our people's deputies, these temporarily unemployed and wedding photographers who, unfortunately, became people's deputies in 2019 on the hype, well, as for the ratings, i would like to note such a moment, the fact is that i am with my colleague from the centernet site tetyana nikolenko. we watched one closed sociology, very interesting, and there, in the trust rating of ukrainians , zaluzhny is in first place, budanov is in second place, and only

... volodymyr oleksandrovich zelenskyi is in third place, so let's see if the same games will not be used, for example, to apply to mr. kirill, by the way, you mentioned maryn, about the office of the president of ukraine, in the single telethon, which next year will be financed at the level of 2 billion hryvnias per year, ihor zhovkva, this is the deputy head of the office of the president of ukraine, also lashed out at general zaluzhny and what he wrote in his article for the economy from the british edition, we have a small fragment of what he said, let's listen, i would probably refrain, well, in my place , definitely , because i am not engaged in the military questions, or, but also in the place of the military , the least i would do would be to comment for the press, to open up the public, what is happening at the front, what can

happen at the front, options, because, well, then we will make the work of the aggressor easier, well, i am sure that everything has been carefully read, noted down, conclusions drawn, if in this way we somehow achieve success, maybe some, this is a very deep strategic plan, but for me, for example, to be honest , very strange, you understand, mr. igor, here such a situation arises, we do too argued about this, because when even the military commanders do not talk to their people, then others, political experts, military experts, some of them have already started talking, you see, and then it turns out to be such a crooked mirror , the truth is distorted, and of course it is better, but even now, you know, it seems to me that valery fedorovych took a step, as he did a year ago, and at a meeting with the world community, he explained what was happening on the russian-ukrainian

front, he told what money is coming taxpayers and european and american, yes, but it would be good to talk with ukrainians and explain what he means, so that ukrainians do not get lost in their thoughts and that various experts and pseudo-experts do not interpret his article in an absolutely polar way, in an absolutely polar way, you see, after this article, ukrainians didn't have even more questions, now you are asking me whether it is a dead end or not, you are asking, as a ukrainian, have you been given answers to all questions or not, before i came to the studio, was to me a call from someone, let's say from the heads of the leaders' offices, and they simply ask me in a panic, what should i report to my leader, are you really at a dead end? well, you see, zhovkva and natalka mosiychuk have many questions for general zaluzhnyi and no questions for president zelenskyi, so zelenskyi should also say something and tell about

what is actually happening in the country, bohdan. how do you perceive this first absentee pick-up of some kind, but general zaluzhnyi and his entourage in this situation simply took up the defense, because now it’s just ongoing political-technological art training, and on the other hand, if the deputy of the office, the head of the office of the president of ukraine, does not know from whom to hear the truth about the war, then in principle. are they even in the topic of what is happening in ukraine? well, you know, for me, the most disgusting part of this story is probably the fact that now the army, and the commander of the armed forces of ukraine, is now trying to get involved in politics, because valery zaluzhnyi never, anywhere, not by sound, by any hint spoke about the fact that he is going into politics that he

participates in political and so on. this man is only doing his own business, by the way, the worst part of this story is, you know, the idiots in the president's office, i think so , i'm sure, they understood that, you see, there was an article in time by this simon schuster, to whom they themselves gave the order, they thought that they let him in when he was fed, he then wrote something that they didn't like, yes, and then the material of the scumbag comes out, only the trick is that they also probably thought that it was some kind of cunning plan, which is directed specifically against vladimir, it is funny that more precisely, it is not funny that this article appeared in the performance, i am sure, because the hard-working man just like a normal military man summed up the summer-autumn company, that is, roughly speaking,