Kherson shelling and an occupied-region bombing: 24 December 2022
A look back at a day of civilian deaths in Kherson, days after a car bombing killed a Russian-installed local head.
What did 24 December 2022 reveal about the pressure on civilians in the Kherson region? Russian forces shelled the city of Kherson that day, killing at least ten civilians and injuring 58 others.
The attack came two days after a separate incident in the Russian-occupied part of the same region. On 22 December 2022, Andrei Shlepa, the Russian-installed head of Liubymivka in Kakhovka Raion, was killed in a car bombing. Russia accused Ukraine of being behind the attack.
Two incidents, one region
The two events were distinct in kind. One was shelling of a city, with ten or more civilians dead and dozens wounded. The other was the assassination of an official installed by Russia in occupied territory, for which Moscow blamed Kyiv.
What connects them is place: both took place in the Kherson region within three days of each other. The reported toll in Kherson itself, at least ten dead and 58 injured, stands as the clearest measure of what that day cost the city's residents.
