As Ukrainian troops continue to advance around Kherson and much of the Kharkiv region is now cleared of Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy proclaimed that life "is returning wherever the occupiers were driven out." Here is a look at the situation in some of the liberated areas.
'Life Is Returning' To Liberated Ukrainian Areas That Russia Claimed
- By RFE/RL
1
Neighbors embrace each others after they return to the liberated village of Kamyanka on October 2 in the Kharkiv region.
2
Hryhoriy Yanchenko, a Soviet Army veteran who fled to Zaporizhzhya from Russian-controlled Kherson, greets soldiers as he collects donations for the Ukrainian military. On September 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed documents to formally annex four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Moscow -- Zaporizhzhya, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk. The UN secretary-general called the move "illegal" and it has not been recognized around the world.
3
Boys play soccer next to a destroyed school in Izyum on October 3. After the city was recaptured from Russian forces in early September, a mass burial site with 440 graves was found and is being examined by experts.
4
Many older residents have remained in their homes throughout the war, despite Ukrainian government pleas for them to move somewhere safer -- an option many in Izyum had only briefly in the spring before it was occupied. Mykola, 62, carries a door on a wheelbarrow to repair his home. Without electricity or gas, residents must prepare for the approaching winter.
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Locals and army vehicles cross a temporary bridge in Izyum that replaced one nearby which had been destroyed.
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A Ukrainian soldier gets a haircut in a forest in the recently recaptured town of Lyman. The liberation of that key city is considered a major defeat for Russian forces.
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A man pumps water in front of a destroyed residential building in Lyman. Lyman residents have been living without electricity, gas, and running water since mid-May.
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People stand next to a building near the Svyatohirsk Cave Monastery. According to Ukrainian authorities, the major Orthodox Christian monastery was damaged during Russian shelling of the town in June 2022.
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A man uses his mobile phone on October 3 as he stands on a bridge destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Svyatohirsk.
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A destroyed Russian armored fighting vehicle is seen in a field in the Kharkiv region. Ukraine's sweeping counteroffensive in September has led to angry criticism of Moscow's military commanders and poses a challenge for Putin as Russian losses mount.
