Russia, struggling to gain new ground, seeks to consolidate control in occupied Ukraine

Chernyshova, 28, first spoke with NBC News in early March, when she took to her city’s streets alongside hundreds of other people to protest the Russian occupation and declare that Kherson was part of Ukraine.But with fears of a possible annexation growing, Chernyshova decided to leave for Odesa, another port city more than 120 miles to the west that is under Ukrainian control. Located at the confluence of the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, just a two-hour drive from Russian-annexed Crimea, it is critical to establishing a land corridor from Russian-controlled areas in the east all the way to Odesa in Ukraine’s southwest and Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria — which analysts have said may be one of the goals of Russia’s invasion. “Dear Kherson, the problems with service were temporary; as well as Russian occupation,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister, who also runs the Digital Transformation Ministry, tweeted bullishly.But the British Defense Ministry has warned that Russia’s recent moves signal its “intent to exert strong political and economic influence in Kherson over the long term.”There has been rampant speculation that the Russians plan to formalize that influence by holding a referendum in the region to create a so-called People’s Republic of Kherson, after the model of the two pro-Russian breakaway territories in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine.Last month, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said ballots, forms, brochures, posters and booklets were already being printed for that purpose.