Kherson residents queued up to replace Russian SIM cards in their mobile phones with local ones, days after the city was retaken by Ukrainian forces. Svitlana Kostikova, a 54-year-old local resident and seamstress, who said she had had no option but to use a Russian SIM card told Reuters, "We finally have our victory, we've been liberated. Glory to Ukraine, glory to the heroes."
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"I deleted all of my apps, and then was forced by circumstances to use it, to have a connection," she further said.
On Thursday, Russian missiles and shells hit Ukrainian positions in several regions and there was no let up in heavy fighting in Donetsk in the east, the Ukrainian military said.
Here are top updates on Russia's invasion of Ukraine:
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- Ukraine's energy infrastructure was under persistent attack by Russian missiles and drones from the capital Kyiv in the north to Dnipro in central Ukraine and Odesa in the south.
- Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours downed two cruise missiles, five air-launched missiles and five Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones, it said.
- As the winter's first snow fell in Kyiv, authorities said they were working to restore power nationwide.
- About 10 million people were without power, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
- A Dutch court convicted two Russian men and a Ukrainian man for their role in the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014.
- Russian fire also hit Balakliya in northeastern Kharkiv region, which Ukraine recaptured in September.
- A deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July aimed at easing global food shortages by helping Ukraine export its agricultural products from Black Sea ports, was extended for four months.
- Kherson's central square witnessed celebrations as people played the Ukrainian anthem and rock music.