Russian forces are stepping up their efforts to make life unbearable for civilians across the occupied southern Kherson region, where power was cut on Sunday night and Ukrainian officials warned that Russian troops were mining critical infrastructure even as they dig in to fight for their last bridgehead west of the Dnipro River.

The battle for Kherson city — the only regional capital to be captured by Moscow since the invasion in late February — has been looming for months.

A Ukrainian counteroffensive launched at the end of August has reclaimed over 100 towns and villages and steadily closed in on Kherson while also pounding Russian supply routes, command centres and ammunition depots far from the front.

As Ukrainian forces advanced, the Kremlin-appointed authorities for Kherson ordered the “evacuation” of all civilians last month — a move that Ukrainian officials said was less about saving lives and more about clearing space for newly mobilized Russian troops to occupy. Since then, Russian forces have been destroying critical infrastructure, shuttering essential services and looting the city, according to residents and Ukrainian officials.

Petro, a 30-year-old who lives in the area, managed to get a message out late Sunday night, saying, “They are making a desert out of the right bank of Kherson.” “Today they blew up the power poles, so we have no light and no water,” Petro added.

While state media in Russia said that Ukrainian shelling had damaged the power lines, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the exiled Ukrainian head of the Kherson regional military administration, blamed Russian troops.

“It is impossible to quickly repair the power lines due to a lack of specialists and equipment,” he said on Sunday night. “In addition, Russian invaders will not allow this to be done.”

The Russian forces have also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav, Yanushevych said, referring to a town less than 50 miles from Kherson City and just north of a critical dam.

Russian forces seized the road over that dam, next to the town of Nova Kakhovka, in the first days of the war, and it is the main artery across the Dnipro river still under the control of Russian forces. If Ukraine regains control of the area, it could prevent thousands of Russian soldiers from escaping.

Ukrainian forces are still meeting fierce resistance as they continue battling Russian troops arrayed some 30 miles to the north of the dam.

New York Times News Service