Last week, Ukraine struck a strategic bridge linking Russian-occupied Kherson with other Russian-held areas in southern Ukraine.

Regaining control of the southern region and the city of Kherson, the only Ukrainian regional capital that Moscow captured in five months of fighting, would hand Kyiv access to another major port hub through which to export grain via the Black Sea.

At the same time, Russia has intensified efforts to potentially annex the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia by introducing the Russian ruble in the areas it controls there, appointing officials from Russian provinces to oversee local administrations, switching schools to the Russian curriculum and opening offices to issue Russian passports to local residents.

In Mykolaiv, meanwhile, people are preparing for more frequent attacks as the fighting spreads.