Huliapole in Southern Ukraine Braces for 'Decisive' Counteroffensive on Russian Forces - The Daily Beast

The town’s near-yearlong ordeal of Russian shelling shows what’s at stake for Ukraine’s much-heralded spring counteroffensive, which media report will likely happen nearby.

A counteroffensive there would break Russia’s land route to the occupied Crimean peninsula, possibly setting the stage for Russian forces there to “wither on the vine,” Herbst added.

He first entered the town’s administration in 2006 and in 2017 was elected mayor, presiding over the mundane work of building parks, remodeling schools and trash removal.

It’s famous throughout Ukraine as the base of Nestor Makhnko, a military leader who used the chaos following the end of World War I to establish one of the only anarchist states to ever exist.

Two days later, Ukrainian media reported a loss of electricity in the town due to shelling, and on March 5, Russian troops briefly entered Huliaipole.

Several miles on the road away from Huliaipole, 37-year-old Alina Kovaleva and her 5-year-old son Gordei were celebrating the first day of the snow the way many families might: they made a snowman.