Russian deputy PM vows to rebuild roads and bridges in occupied Kherson region of Ukraine 

The Russian government has allocated money out of the country’s budget to rebuild roads and bridges in the Kherson region of Ukraine, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said. The Kherson region is currently under Russian occupation.

“We will definitely work on recovering and repairing roads and bridges. This is our primary goal, we have allocated money for this already,” the official stated, quoted by state news agency TASS.

The deputy PM added that Russia would supply the region with the necessary medicine and help local residents to sell agricultural produce.

Khusnullin is currently visiting the Kherson region. He previously visited Mariupol, Volnovakha and Luhansk. According to the minister, there is still a lot of humanitarian work to be done.

Kherson has been under de facto Russian occupation since 2 March. Russian TV channels are transmitted in the region. Local Internet provider SkyNET earlier switched to Russia’s Rostelecom network. On 26 April, the Russian Defence Ministry reported that Kyiv had lost control of the entire Kherson region.

Shortly before that, Hennadiy Lahuta, the legitimate head of the Kherson region, said that the Russian military had appointed their own "government officials." Russian occupation forces appointed former mayor of Kherson Volodymyr Saldo as the region’s “governor” and Oleksandr Kobets as “mayor” of Kherson. After that, local officials reported that Kherson would switch to the ruble zone starting 1 May.