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Hundreds of people in the newly liberated city of Kherson have queued up in the rain to swap their Russian SIM cards for local ones.

It comes almost a week after Russian troops began to withdraw from the city, and Ukrainian forces seized back control of the only major area Moscow had managed to take.

Svitlana Kostikova, 54, said she had no option but to use a Russian SIM card in her mobile phone when Russia was in control of the city.

She said: “We finally have our victory, we’ve been liberated. Glory to
Ukraine, glory to the heroes. 

“I deleted all of my apps, and then was forced by
circumstances to use it, to have a connection.”

Ukraine claims Russian troops destroyed the Kherson telecommunications system before departing the city.

Kyiv has since set up relay stations around Kherson, and people have been photographed gathering around electricity units to charge their phones.

Booths were built around the main square by local
telecoms providers, including Kyivstar and Vodafone, where
residents had the option of either acquiring a free SIM card or
paying to skip the queue. 

“My SIM card burned when my apartment was hit by a rocket.
The whole building burned down, a four-storey building, 65
apartments,” said Semyanova Liudmyla, 67, after picking up her
free card.