The Latest Breaking News from Kherson

Moscow’s forces home in on energy infrastructure as winter starts to bite

Russian missile strikes have crippled almost half of Ukraine's energy system, the government said on Friday, and authorities in the capital Kyiv warned that the city could face a "complete shutdown" of the power grid as winter sets in.

Under rainy skies, Ukrainian-controlled Kherson's central square was a frenetic melee on Thursday afternoon of humanitarian aid queues and displays of patriotic celebration tinged with uncertainty about the future.

As Russia withdraws from Kherson, Ukrainian residents are returning to their homes to find mountains of gear, weapons and more left behind.

Kherson is coming back to life after more than 8 1/2 months under Russian occupation. There's no water or electricity, but residents are celebrating — even as they recall the horrors of occupation.

Hundreds of residents in the newly-liberated city of Kherson queued up in the rain to switch the Russian SIM cards in their mobile phones for local ones on Thursday, only days after the city was retaken by Ukrainian forces.

As violence escalates in Ukraine, human rights abuses have become widespread

Ukrainian interior minister Denys Monastyrsky said the investigation into Russian crimes in Kherson had only just begun "so many more dungeons and burial places will be uncovered"

More than 10 million Ukrainians were without electricity on Thursday, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, as Russian missiles pounded energy facilities in yet another barrage targeting civilian infrastructure across the country. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+1)

A top Ukrainian human rights investigator on Thursday released a video of what he said was a torture chamber used by Russian forces in the recently liberated Kherson region, including a small room in which he said up to 25 people were kept at a time.

Kremlin declines to give details of meeting with CIA chief