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In response to
"Satellite images show damage to a major dam in Kherson."
by
crash davis
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Joy over the Russian pullout spreads in Ukrainian communities at home and abroad.
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MIKOLAIV, Ukraine — The liberation of Kherson has jolted Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora with a wave of excitement, pride and pure joy unlike anything else since the war began.
Ukrainian troops on Friday retook the strategically vital Black Sea port, which was the first major city to fall to Russian control less than a week after the invasion. Their arrival in the southern Ukrainian city reverberated in Ukrainian communities across the world.
In Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, crowds flooded into the streets; in Kherson, they danced around a glowing bonfire; In Lviv and other Ukrainian cities, people popped champagne.
In Poland, Germany, even Georgia, all places where Ukrainians driven from war have started lives in exile, friends gathered, hugged, sang national songs and poured generous drinks.
Many Ukrainians said that in nine months of war, they hadn’t felt anything like this.
“Today is a miracle,” said Olena Yuresko, a bartender in Mykolaiv. “I’ve been checking the news all day on my phone, scrolling, scrolling, scrolling — and crying.”
— Jeffrey Gettleman
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