Russian-Occupied Kherson Names New Leadership Amid Pro-Ukraine Protests, Rocket Attacks

[Rogue Valley]

Russian-Occupied Kherson Names New Leadership Amid Pro-Ukraine Protests, Rocket Attacks - The Moscow Times

Russian troops appointed former KGB agent Alexander Kobets as Kherson's new mayor.

www.themoscowtimes.com

4.28.22
Occupying Russian forces have appointed a new “military-civilian administration” in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region amid pro-Kyiv protests and rocket attacks. Russian soldiers occupied the city of Kherson on the banks of the Dnieper River in early March. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it gained control of the entire Kherson region this week. Russian troops have dismissed Kherson’s Ukrainian leadership, instead appointing former KGB agent Alexander Kobets as mayor and ex-mayor Volodymyr Saldo as regional head, Russian state media reported Wednesday. The city’s previous mayor, Ihor Kolykhayev, had “refused to cooperate” with occupying forces, an unnamed official told RIA Novosti. The announcement was made as Russian forces dispersed a pro-Ukraine rally with tear gas and stun grenades. Explosions at a nearby television tower also briefly disrupted Russian state-run broadcasting. Stremousov said Kherson did not plan to hold a referendum to establish an unrecognized pro-Russian state similar to the Donetsk and Lugansk republics of eastern Ukraine but ruled out the region’s return to Ukraine. Days earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that “pseudo-referendums” in Kherson and the destroyed city of Mariupol would spell an end to Moscow-Kyiv peace talks.

The Russians didn't even bother with a phony referendum here such as the one in Crimea.

I have no doubts that Ukrainian forces will liberate the city of Kherson and Kherson Oblast.