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President Zelensky visits Ukraine’s Kherson after Russian retreat
President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday visited the newly liberated city of Kherson in southern Ukraine after Russian forces retreated from the strategic hub near the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian presidency distributed images of him singing the national anthem, holding his hand over his chest as the country’s blue and yellow flag was hoisted next to the city’s main administrative building.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman denied, however, that the Ukrainian leader’s visit had any impact on the status of the Kherson region, which Moscow formally annexed into Russia at a ceremony last month.
“It’s important to be here,” Zelensky told reporters in the city as his office released images of him meeting Kherson residents and military officials.
“We should speak here… support the people so that they feel that we are not just talking, not just making promises but really returning and really raising our flag,” he added.
Late Sunday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces found evidence of hundreds of new “war crimes” carried out by Russian occupiers in Kherson.
His subsequent visit came just days after Ukrainian troops entered the city — the Kherson region’s administrative centre — after Russia pulled back its forces on Friday.
Kremlin dismissive
The takeover by Ukrainian troops is the latest in a string of setbacks for the Kremlin, which invaded Ukraine on February 24 hoping for a lightning takeover and to topple the government in days.
But Russian troops failed to capture the capital Kyiv and have since been pushed back from large portions of territory in the south and east.
Ukrainians in the liberated city expressed relief at the end of months of occupation.
“I am extremely happy we’re finally free,” Andriy, 33, a philosophy student, told AFP.
“We have no electricity in the city, no water, no central heating, no mobile signal, no internet connection — but we have no Russians,” he said.
The city of Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian forces and the only regional capital Moscow’s troops gained control over.
Its recapture opens a gateway for Ukraine to the entire Kherson region, with access to both the Black Sea in the west and the Sea of Azov in the east.
The region was one of four that the Kremlin announced in September were annexed and part of Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to use all available means to defend them from Ukrainian forces.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday he would not comment on Zelensky’s visit to Kherson but added: “this territory is part of the Russian Federation.”
-‘Very scared’
A self-described partisan in Kherson told AFP after the Russian withdrawal that he and his friends had spent months walking the streets observing the Russians’ every move.
“You watch closely and then come home and write it all down. And then you send the information and hide absolutely everything — phones, papers, clothes, everything,” 19-year-old aspiring musician named Volodymyr Timor said.
“We reported everything — where their equipment and ammunition sites were, where they slept and where they went out drinking,” Timor said.
Ukraine’s forces could then use the coordinates to target strikes during a counteroffensive that has seen Russia cede roughly half the land it seized in the first weeks of war.
“I was scared,” the imposing but soft-spoken guitarist said of the prospect of being caught and possibly killed.
“Believe me, I was very scared.”
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s forces were posting gains in the eastern region of Lugansk, the military and local officials said Monday.
The eastern industrial region has been held by Russian-supported separatists since 2014 but Kyiv’s forces have slowly been clawing back territory there.
“Twelve towns and villages have been liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from the occupiers in the Lugansk region,” the regional governor announced on social media without specifying when the towns had been captured.
The Commissioner of Police in Osun, Mohammed Abba, has pledged collaboration with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in tackling the menace of drug Abuse in the state.
A statement by the Police Public Relation Officer, CSP Yemisi Opalaola, on Thursday in Osogbo, said that the commissioner made the pledge while playing host to NDLEA State Commandant, Adetula Lawal.
Abba expressed his readiness to further strengthen the healthy partnership between the two agencies.
The police commissioner said that the fight against drug abuse required collective efforts.
According to him, many of those committing crimes are doing so under the influence of dangerous drugs.
Abba promised to provide the necessary support to the NDLEA in the state.
The statement quoted Lawal as commending the police commissioner’s efforts in combating crime and criminality in the state.
He reiterated the agency’s collaboration with the police, as a leading security agency to tackle the menace of drug abuse and trafficking in the state.
Financial experts have raised alarm that the implementation of the 4 per cent Free-On-Board (FOB) Levy on imports would exacerbate inflation in the country.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report that the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Feb. 5 announced its introduction of the FOB levy on imports.
According to Abdullahi Maiwada, the spokesman of the service, the introduction of the levy was in line with the provisions of the Nigeria Customs Service Act (NCSA) 2023.
“In line with the provisions of Section 18 (1) of NCSA 2023, the NCS is implementing a 4 per cent charge on the Free On-Board (FOB) value of imports.
“The FOB charge, which is calculated based on the value of imported goods, including the cost of goods and transportation expenses incurred up to the port of loading, is essential to driving the effective operation of the service.”
However, a former Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ogun Chapter, Dr Wale Adegbite and Evans Osabuohien, a Professor of Economics, said that the levy would worsen the nation’s inflation rate.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Ota, Ogun, Adegbite and Osabuohien of the Department of Economics, Covenant University, said that the policy would negatively impact the economy.
The former MAN chairman said that the 4 per cent levy by the NCS “is a disaster and will worsen an already bad situation with multiple devastating effect on the economy.
” Why would the government inflict more hardship on the population as this new policy will certainly lead to more price increase, thus further increasing the country’s inflation rate.
“In addition, the masses will suffer more because of the impending price increase without any corresponding increase in income.”
Also, Osabuohien said that though the new FOB policy by the NCS was meant to generate more revenue for the federal government, but it would negatively impact on the economy.
He said that the NCS action would increase the cost of living of households.
The economist explained further that the development would increase the cost of operations of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially those companies that depend on imported raw materials for their production.
“This additional cost to be incurred through the 4 per cent increase in FOB would be transferred to the consumers and it would automatically trigger increase in the nation’s inflation rate,” Osabuohien said.
U.S. President Donald Trump plans to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on steel and aluminium imports into the United States, he said on Sunday.
“Any steel coming to the United States is going to have them, 25 per cent tariff,” Trump said, according to journalists travelling with the president. When questioned about tariffs on aluminium imports, Trump replied, “25 Per cent for both.”
Trump also confirmed his plan to announce further reciprocal tariffs in the coming week.
He spoke of an announcement on Tuesday or Wednesday.
“Very simply, if they charge us, we charge them, Trump told reporters, adding that the tariffs would go into effect almost immediately.”
U.S. tariffs of 10 per cent on Chinese goods took effect from Feb. 4.
The planned tariffs of 25 per cent on Mexico and Canada were suspended for an initial period of 30 days following promises from the two countries to increase border security measures.
Trump won November’s presidential election promising to slap high tariffs on foreign goods to reduce U.S. trade deficits.
He implemented a number of duties during his first term from 2017 to 2021.
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