Why Kherson, preparing for battle, means so much to Russia and Ukraine

Both sides have attached great importance to what is happening in Kherson, a city of symbolic and strategic value, where conditions are increasingly disastrous for the thousands who remain.

Faced with a Ukrainian advance, Russian forces are rendering the occupied city of Kherson increasingly unlivable, apparently in preparation for a major battle that has been looming for months.

Both sides have attached great importance to what is happening in Kherson, the only regional capital seized by the forces of Moscow when they invaded this year; Russian President Vladimir V. Putin reportedly refused a request from his army to withdraw from the city to more defensible positions.

The Russian flag was removed from administrative buildings , military checkpoints were abandoned, most of the population and the Kremlin-appointed occupation government fled, and essential services ceased to function.

But so far there is no sign of the Muscovite army abandoning Kherson in southern Ukraine, with Ukrainian forces claiming that Russia has amassed 40,000 troops there.

Fighting rages north and west in the Kherson region, and as Ukrainian forces slowly continue their offensive towards the city, they say they have recovered more than 100 towns and villages in the region west of the Dnipro River.

But the events Recent ts have fueled speculation about what's coming and what's coming next. A Russian retreat? A pitched battle for control of the battered city? A mock withdrawal by the Russians to lure the Ukrainians into a trap?

Amid uneven communications, unverified claims by Russian officials and limited information from from the Ukrainian army, here is some of what is known about Kherson and why control of the city is important.

People left behind in the largely depopulated area report that the Russians are cutting off electricity and drinking water not only to the city of Kherson but also to towns and villages all along the western shore of the Dnipro.

'They are transforming banking law,' said Petro, a 30-year-old who lives in the area and managed to get a message across late Sunday night . For safety's sake, he communicated on the condition that his last name not be used.

"Today they blew up the electric poles, we didn't 'so we have no light and no water,' he added.

While state media in Russia said the Ukrainian bombing had damaged power lines, Yaroslav Yanushevych, the exiled Ukrainian leader of the Kherson Regional Army of the Russian administration, blamed Russian troops.

Russian forces also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav, Yanushevych said, referring to a town less than 80 km from the city of Kherson and just north of a critical dam near the lines of fighting front.

Ukrainian officials say the Russians, who have told civilians to evacuate, fear that those who remain may either feed intelligence to the advancing Ukrainian forces or sabotage the Russian military. The region's Kremlin-appointed governor warned that any civilians still present could be treated as hostile.

Some 250,000 people lived in the city before the war. Ukrainian activists estimate that there are between 30,000 and 60,000 people left, but it is impossible to know how accurate these guesses are.

Last month, the Occupation authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians to the west side of the river. They have sent thousands east to territory held more firmly by Russia, while blocking routes to Ukrainian-controlled areas. The government installed by Moscow is also gone, while