"Tears flowed like hail, goosebumps": Kherson resident tells how the Armed Forces entered the city

As a result of a counteroffensive on November 11, 2022, Ukraine's defenders officially liberated Kherson, which had been under Russian occupation for more than eight months. Residents of the regional center, when the Armed Forces of Ukraine entered the city, could not believe their eyes at first, and later could not hold back tears of joy.

This was told in an interview with Channel 24 by Tetiana Naumova, an entrepreneur from Kherson who stayed there throughout the occupation. According to the woman, she was one of the first to see Ukrainian soldiers in the city.

The businesswoman admitted that she had not cried during the entire period of Kherson's capture by the enemy, but she could not contain her emotions when she saw our soldiers.

"Even when I remember it now, I get goosebumps. I held on throughout the war, did not shed a single tear. I was one of the first in the city to see a car with our flag. Honestly, at first I thought it was some kind of provocation by the Russians. But when I saw our guys and heard "Glory to Ukraine," I burst into tears," she says.

Tetiana recalled that when the Ukrainian armed forces entered the city, she immediately went to Freedom Square, where people began to gather. According to her, during the occupation, Kherson residents learned the value of the blue and yellow flag of their country.

"You can't imagine what it meant for Kherson residents to keep the Ukrainian flag. For Russians, the flag was something like evil spirits. They all hated Ukrainian symbols and tried to destroy them in the city," the woman said.

She added that people in Kherson were burying flags under threat of death and hiding them as best they could. That's why she also cried on Freedom Square when she saw the blue and yellow flags.

"When I watched people with Ukrainian flags on the square, my tears flowed like a hailstorm. Then, probably, all the residents of the city felt such patriotism. We all learned the value of the Ukrainian flag after living under occupation for almost nine months," emphasized Tetyana.

The resident of Kherson added that these emotions are impossible to convey: everyone hugged each other, both men and women cried.

"Even now, when I talk about it, I have tears in my eyes. You don't forget something like that, we all have a big scar on our hearts and souls," she summarized.

In the same interview, Tatiana Naumova said that the Russian military massively robbed residents during the occupation of Kherson. The invaders stole literally everything, even things that would seem to make no sense to take away from people: swimsuits, wires, and pots.

As OBOZREVATEL previously reported, the famous Ukrainian musician Arsen Mirzoyan, who was one of the first artists to get to the Kherson region liberated from the occupiers, told what he saw there. The singer witnessed local residents in tears begging the Ukrainian Armed Forces not to leave them.

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