One video from Kherson showed a Ukrainian soldier running to hug his grandmother at the door to her home, laying aside his rifle to embrace her.
Ukrainians could be heard chanting "Kherson is Ukraine" — a repudiation of Russian President Vladimir Putin
...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...’s shotgun annexation of the province — while taking to the street with blue and gold flags.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an unannounced visit to the regional capital, greeting jubilant residents and taking selfies with soldiers, vowing to restore essential infrastructure in the newly liberated city.
"You see our strong army. We are step by step coming through our country, through the temporarily occupied territories," he said.
Olga Fedorova, an English teacher in Kherson, said the lack of power and internet in the city had made it difficult to know that liberation was underway.