Ukraine's Kherson races to restore power, water after Russian retreat

Utility companies in Kherson were working to restore critical infrastructure damaged and mined by fleeing Russian forces, with most homes in the southern Ukrainian city still without electricity and water, regional officials said on Sunday, Qazet.az reports.

Amid their jubilation, some residents of the city recounted ill treatment by the Russians during their occupation of Kherson.

The governor of Kherson region, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said the authorities had decided to maintain a curfew from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. and ban people from leaving or entering the city as a security measure.

"The enemy mined all critical infrastructure objects," Yanushevych told Ukrainian TV. "We are trying to meet within a few days and (then) open the city," he said.

Ukrainian troops arrived in the centre of Kherson on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its invasion began in February. The withdrawal marked the third major Russian retreat of the war and the first to involve yielding such a large occupied city in the face of a major Ukrainian counter-offensive that has retaken parts of the east and south.