De-occupation of Kherson. Stabilization measures
Since the beginning of November, the Ukrainian Defense Forces forced the Russian occupation forces to begin preparations for the retreat. On November 3, tricolor and block-posts nearby were removed from the building of the Kherson Regional Administration. Preparing to escape, the invaders looted the Kherson Art Museum and the Kherson Museum of Local Lore, a zoo and communal property. The looted boule was taken to the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula.
On November 9, 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation announced the “withdrawal” of the occupation troops from the city.
On November 10, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Valery Zaluzhny commented on the withdrawal of Russian troops from the right bank of the Dnieper:
“Behind every so-called 'goodwill gesture' of the enemy is the tremendous effort of our troops. Just as the enemy withdrew from Kyiv and Kharkiv region, left Zmiiny Island, the probable exit from Kherson is the result of our active actions.”
On November 11, Ukrainian troops entered the city in the evening and by November 12 the city was finally liberated. The invaders blew up the Antonovsky Bridge in several places. As of November 12, the city was completely mined: including the building of the OVA and the city water canal. There was no water and light in the city, mobile communication of most operators did not work. Representatives of the OVA, the police and the Security Service of Ukraine returned to Kherson, the demining of the city and the restoration of peaceful life began. Ukrainian television and radio were launched in the city.
On November 13, mobile communication was restored in Kherson.
On November 12, 2022, the Head of the National Police of Ukraine Igor Klymenko said on Facebook:
The National Police of Ukraine is carrying out stabilization measures in Kherson. About 200 police officers work in the city.
Block posts are exhibited around and on the territory of Kherson. The police of the Kherson region continue to record the crimes of the Russian occupiers. The
main threat now lies in mass replacement. 10 groups of explosives technicians are working to detect and defuse explosive objects. One of the police sappers was injured today during the demining of one of the administrative buildings in Kherson. We ask local residents to follow certain rules, to move carefully around the city and not to touch suspicious objects.
If you find one, be sure to inform law enforcement.
At the same time, we appeal to citizens who have left Kherson: do not rush to return until stabilization measures are completed. Work continues.
The police are working.
As it was - on the first anniversary of Kherson's release, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine presented the film KHERSON. ONE YEAR AFTER DISMISSAL
As of November 2022, up to 20% of the pre-war population remained in the city, that is, about 60,000 people.
On November 14, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the liberated city and said that he came to Kherson to “support the Kherson people”.
“I think we need to be here and support people so that they feel that we are not just talking, but really giving back, really raising our flag. And in a human way, I want to get energy and emotions from people,” he told reporters.
On November 14, 2022, Igor Klymenko reported that 182 settlements in the right-bank Kherson region are under the full control of the National Police.
“There is still a lot of work. Especially with our explosives engineers. It is necessary to examine each administrative building, infrastructure objects, so that it becomes possible to restore the normal functioning of the city. During the day and night the streets of Kherson are patrolled by police uniforms. Locals can always turn to them for help,” said Igor Klymenko.
During a trip to Kherson region, Igor Klymenko together with First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yevhenii Yenin held an operational meeting on the organization of police work in liberated settlements of the region:
“We need to ensure maximum security of people and high-quality collection of evidence base of war crimes of Russian invaders. Many of our premises are damaged, or even completely destroyed. Today the Kherson district police department inspected. Here the occupiers arranged their “authority”. Now the building is broken, clogged, but can fully function. Local police are preparing to resume work there. Despite the difficulties, we will overcome all obstacles. The main thing is that Kherson is at home.”
In the building of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kherson region, one of the torture chambers was discovered - the largest in the city. The occupiers were taken to the basement of the building for questioning civilians, and there were rescuers who continued to work in the region, but did not agree to cooperate with the occupiers.
Operatives of the Department of Internal Security of the National Police of Ukraine together with other units of the National Police also took an active part in carrying out stabilization measures in the de-occupied territory of the Kherson region.
Their main task is to identify and bring to justice the enemy's helpers. Therefore, the DBB of the NPU appealed to the residents of the liberated territories: in case of available information about persons who assisted or collaborated with the Russian occupiers, or betrayed the state, to notify the “hotline” of the Department on a 24-hour telephone number.
Together with the police in the de-occupied territories of Mykolaiv and Kherson regions, the work of the units of the State Emergency Service resumed.
Combined detachments from Mykolaiv, Kherson, Odessa, Kirovohrad, Cherkasy and Vinnytsia regions, as well as the Mobile Rapid Response Rescue Center, which includes personnel and special equipment, were sent to the places of deployment, where they continued to serve and perform tasks assigned to noms.
Separately, pyrotechnic calculations were formed and directed to the areas where hostilities took place. The territory of pyrotechnics was exchanged from Dnipropetrovsk region, Zaporizhia, Kherson region, Mykolaiv region, Kirovohrad region, Cherkasy region, Khmelnytsky region, Zhytomyr region, Odessa region, Luhansk region, Vinnytsia, Rivne region, Interregional Rapid Response Center of DSC Ministry of Emergency Situations of Ukraine.
On November 14, the Head of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine and the First Deputy got acquainted with the progress of the work during the working visit.
The heads of the SNS spoke with the personnel, held an on-site meeting and provided appropriate instructions to the appointed heads or temporarily acting commanders on the ground regarding the organization of all necessary measures to be taken in the future for the full resumption of the work of the units.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Denis Monastyrsky also stressed that in the Kherson region after its liberation from the Russian occupiers, a high level of roads, residential buildings, in particular, the police building was mined.
The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasized that there is a danger due to mined territories:
“The fire technicians of the State Emergency Service, the National Police and the military are working on this 24/7, which help us evacuate civilian facilities and critical infrastructure facilities. We have set a task to defund the main approaches to houses in Kherson within a month, so that people can fully live in the settlements.”
Denis Monastyrsky confirmed that in the Kherson region there was a high level of mining of roads, objects, residential buildings, in particular the police building. According to him, there are already dead and injured pyrotechnics, because the occupiers left many explosive objects that react to certain vibrations.
Regarding the recording of war crimes, the Minister informed that police and SBU officers find mass places of torture and burials:
“In particular, 436 proceedings have already been initiated on the results of the first signs of war crimes, 11 places of deprivation of liberty have been identified, of which torture was used in 4 places. They are now examined by investigators and record every fact of torture, witnesses are found, and the bodies of the dead are exhumed. So far, 63 bodies have been found in the Kherson region, but we have to understand that the search has only just begun, so many more torture and burial sites will be found.”
Investigative work to identify collaborators has begun. Monastyrsky assured that the collaborators will not escape responsibility and will not escape — there are currently 16 checkpoints around Kherson:
“Already 763 people have been checked, of which 5 have been detained and transferred to the Security Service of Ukraine on suspicion of collusion. Polygraphologists also work, who check people who may have collaborated with the occupiers. We have lists, people share information, who held what positions, who collaborated with them.”
In the Kherson region, almost in the first days after the dismissal, the work of the State Migration Service was resumed, three stationary branches began to operate in the region, in Kherson — a mobile point. The Service Center also started working, but so far also in mobile format.
On November 17, 2022, the internal security officers of the National Police together with the investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the SBU detained a local resident who went to work in the so-called “Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Kherson region” during the occupation of the region. He has already been declared a suspect.
Within the framework of the criminal proceedings initiated in March 2022, operatives of the Department of Internal Security, the Kherson Directorate of the Internal Security Service of the National Police, together with the employees of the SSU of the SBU and the USBU in the Kherson region, during the implementation of stabilization measures in the de-occupied region detained the “Competent Department for Economic Combation against crimes” of a pseudo-law enforcement agency created by the occupation administration. This man carried out criminal orders of the occupiers and voluntarily assumed “duties of collaborator” between July and August 2022.
Before the full-scale invasion of Russia, the defendant worked as a state registrar in the Kherson City Council, was a deputy of one of the districts of the city.
Under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General, the enemy accomplice was informed of the suspicion under Part 7 of Art. 111-1 (Collaborative activity) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He has already been detained in procedural order and placed in a temporary detention facility.
The sanction of the incriminated article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of twelve to fifteen years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of ten to fifteen years and with or without confiscation of property.
On November 17, 2022, the Department of Communications of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine together with the Media Center “Ukraine-Ukrinform”, Kharkiv Media Hub and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine held a press conference in the liberated territories of Kherson region for foreign and domestic media. Media representatives visited the demining site and got acquainted with the progress of demining the territory of the Kherson region in the suburbs of the regional center.
Deputy Head of the Main Department of the State Emergency Service in Kherson Oblast Oleksandr Bondar noted that since the de-occupation of the right bank of the Kherson region by pyrotechnic units of the SNS there have been 435 departures of pyrotechnic crews, during which more than 2500 explosive devices have been detected, seized and defused objects.
“As the cold weather approaches, the first task of the pyrotechnic units of the Kherson State Emergency Service is to check and mine critical infrastructure facilities, including energy facilities, gas pipelines, water supply lines, etc. 50 km of railway tracks, 200 km of highways, 189 households have been checked,” Oleksandr Bondar stressed.
“The Kherson region is complex in terms of the volume of mining work, it is very different in the mass of mining, for example, from the Kharkiv region. All available forces of pyrotechnics of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the National Guard and the National Police are now working here. We release all possible forces for work, and the de-occupied territories of the Kherson region, and this is the beginning of stabilization measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine,” said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Mary Akopian.
Also, journalists examined the site of Russian war crimes — a possible burial place of the Kherson terrorist army soldiers in the Lilac Park of the regional center. Explosives of the National Police conducted a survey of the territory to ensure further investigative actions and exhumation of the bodies of the dead heroes.
State institutions in Kherson have now become literally centers of state and social communication. Near one of the departments of the National Police, the work of a mobile point of the Main Service Center of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was deployed, where people could not only receive available administrative services, but also receive information in an accessible paper format from the “Information Bulletin of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine”. Also, employees of the GSC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs presented the younger residents of Kherson with reflective markers to mark themselves in the dark.
“I want to congratulate all Kherson residents who have been waiting for the return of Ukraine to their city. For the fourth day, stabilization measures continue in the city and liberated areas of the region. We already have extensive experience in de-occupation of Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Sumy and Kyiv regions. Our main goal is the safety of citizens, and the priority task today is demining. For this purpose, there are currently 26 teams of fire technicians of the National Police and 10 units of explosives technicians of the National Police, and we plan to increase the number of forces to speed up this work. Also, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine resumed the provision of administrative services by deploying mobile GSC centers,” said Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Mary Akopian during the final briefing.
➤ In Kherson, “Points of Inviolability” have been opened, where residents can warm up and charge their phones.
The initiative was implemented by the Office of the President together with the State Emergency Service and the Kherson Regional Military Administration.
The first two tents are deployed in the center of Kherson — on Svobody Square. At each point, Internet and extension cords so that residents of the deoccupied city, where the restoration of electricity is still ongoing, can charge mobile phones and power banks. Tents have tables, chairs and sun loungers for children and the elderly. There is also water, tea, coffee and cookies for a quick snack.
