Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival

by Luke Harding

The Russian government was keen to use Kherson as a laboratory, a political showcase for how the south’s “return” meant positive change. Its preferred military-administrative model had been tested in the east. According to Zelenskiy, it wanted to create a “Kherson People’s Republic” along the lines of the Moscow-controlled puppet governments in Donetsk and Luhansk. The plan was to hold a “referendum” on Kherson joining Russia, similar to the spurious polls held in 2014 in the separatist areas. It was increasingly obvious, however, that there was little support for integration with the Russian Federation. Humanitarian convoys were brought in from Crimea, together with former prisoners who acted as locals and gave flowers to Russian soldiers. But even Russian state TV struggled to come up with footage of enthusiastic crowds cheering Russia. The real residents ignored the humanitarian aid. And so the Kremlin came up with a solution. Referendum or no referendum, it would annex the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and proclaim them Russian territory. They would join Crimea as a part of Russia’s southern federal district. This takeover was contrary to what Putin had promised at the start of his special operation: that he did not seek to steal Ukraine’s land. He did. That was always the idea. It was this century’s most stunning example of naked imperialism.