Dozens, if not hundreds, of articles and videos in foreign media are dedicated to the liberation of Kherson. However, only a few of them are now analyzing how Ukraine managed to do this and why the escape of Russians from the right bank of Kherson region is a great success. Most of the coverage (on the BBC, CNN, The Washington Post, Euronews) focus on something else ― on how the locals rejoice at the appearance of the Ukrainian army. The Daily Beast website even released a selection of touching posts on social networks about how Ukrainian troops are greeted, with the subtitle "Slava Ukraini!" ("Glory to Ukraine!"). The correspondents in their field reports donʼt forget to mention that in the newly liberated settlements there are many buildings destroyed by the Russians or looted shops or banks, and that the locals are already complaining about abuse by the occupiers, even in the last days of their stay here. However, the key message is that despite being under Russian control for eight months, the locals do not have positive feelings about this country, and that the only state symbols they prefer to see in their villages or cities are Ukrainian.
The Associated Press writes about the damage caused by the Russian invasion to Ukrainian ecology. After eight months of full-scale war, about six million Ukrainians have limited or no access to clean water, and about 280,000 hectares of forests have been destroyed, the information agency reports data from the global environmental organization WWF, World Wildlife Fund. If you calculate the damage of nature in money, it is more than $37 billion. However, the change in the ecological situation is much more visible than the deterioration of peopleʼs health. This will manifest itself for years, the publication says, often due to the deterioration of the quality of drinking water or harmful substances in the air because of burned industrial facilities. Sometimes this is already noticeable ― for example, in the village of Demydiv north of Kyiv, where resistance forces blew up a dam, which delayed the advance of Russian forces on the capital. As a result, the water in the wells turned brown and acquired a strange smell, some houses were flooded and mold appeared on the walls. Locals were forced to drink this water, their well-being worsened. Then a truck with drinking water started going to Demydiv ― but it broke down in October, so the villagers are drinking untreated water again. There are still many such examples, assure AP interlocutors among ecologists ― especially in the east of Ukraine, where hostilities last longer.
CNN writes about the split in Joe Bidenʼs administration over whether Ukraine should seek peace with Russia now. Mark Milley, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Army, became a key proponent of peace talks in the entourage of the US president. Speaking at a meeting of the Economic Club of New York, he noted the skill of the Ukrainians in inciting the Russians to flee from Kherson ― but added that it is unlikely that Kyiv can achieve a full-scale military victory now. Therefore, “when there is an opportunity for negotiations, when peace can be achieved ― seize this, seize the moment,” he concluded. In internal disputes in the administration, writes CNN, Milley assures that he is not pushing the Ukrainians to any kind of surrender. Itʼs just that he sees an opportunity to end the war now, without dragging it out into the spring or beyond ― which Milley says will cause further suffering and loss for both civilians and the military. The diplomatic solution to the conflict has been discussed within the American authorities for a long time, the publication writes. However, now that some of these conversations have become public, the administration of the US president fears that this could give Putin additional trump cards on the world stage, sources close to Biden told the media. In the end, for the time being, the White Houseʼs dominant position remains unchanged: the West will support Ukraine as long as it takes ― and Kyiv itself will decide when and under what conditions to enter into negotiations with the Russians.