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Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolykhaev said Thursday that Russian troops have “captured the city.”
“Yes, it really is true. The situation is difficult, we need a green corridor for humanitarian aid for our city!” he told NBC News via WhatsApp.
The mayor said Russian troops had established a “military commandant’s office.” He said he was “not offered any conditions for cooperation.”
However, Kolykhaev said, he had outlined a number of conditions himself, including a demand that “there must be only the Ukrainian flag above the building of the city council because Kherson is Ukraine.”
“There can be no tanks in the city,” he also said, adding: “There should be green corridors for humanitarian convoys and for evacuation of the population if required.”
The head of Kherson’s regional council had said earlier Thursday, however, that Russian forces had taken control of the city’s regional state administration building.
In a Facebook post, Hennadiy Lahuta said Russian attackers had “completely occupied the building of the Kherson Regional State Administration.”
“However, we have not given up our responsibilities,” Lahuta said.
