There are only two and a half weeks left until the "Victory Day" of 1945, which is to be celebrated in Russia this year as well.

Western secret services have been spreading the word for some time that President Vladimir Putin wants to show the Russians a substantial success in the war against Ukraine, known as a "special military operation".

The Kremlin may have chosen Cherson in southern Ukraine for this.

The city had almost 290,000 inhabitants before the war and is still the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russian troops have been able to recapture since the attack at the end of February.

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

  • Follow I follow

Anyone tuning in to the Russian state broadcaster NTV these days will see images from Cherson, which was conquered at the beginning of March, reminiscent of the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the proclamation of the "People's Republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk eight years ago.

The tenor of the reports is that after turmoil for which only the Ukrainians are to blame, a new Russian order is gradually emerging.

It is said that sellers in the markets of Kherson are prepared to no longer sell products for Ukrainian hryvnia, but for Russian rubles.

The Russian soldiers brought "hope," says the spokesman.

A representative of a “military-civilian administration of the Cherson region”, which is apparently intended to replace the Ukrainian authorities, is quoted as saying.

The man looks forward to the camera

that connections to Crimea and Russia would now be reestablished.

A red flag of the Soviet Union is shown at the end of one contribution: Russian national guards would have hoisted the "Banner of Victory" from 1945 over the city.