Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday likened the recapture of the southern city of Kherson to the Allied landings in France on D-Day in World War II, saying both were watersheds on the road to eventual victory.
Ukrainian police, meanwhile, announced plans to investigate alleged Russian torture sites in now-retaken areas, and UN investigators said they'll look into enforced disappearances and detentions.
Speaking via video link to a Group of 20 summit in Indonesia, Zelenskyy said Kherson's liberation from eight months of Russian occupation was “reminiscent of many battles in the past, which became turning points in the wars".
“It's like, for example, D-Day — the landing of the Allies in Normandy. It was not yet a final point in the fight against evil, but it already determined the entire further course of events. This is exactly what we are feeling now,” he said.
The retaking of Kherson was one of Ukraine's biggest successes in the nearly 9-month-old Russian invasion and dealt another stinging blow to the Kremlin.