South Ukraine shows signs Russia has come to stay A Russian serviceman patrols the street in an armoured vehicle near the sea port of Berdyansk, Ukraine, on April 30, 2022. Russian forces took control of the city on the Sea of Azov in the first days of their military campaign, facing almost no resistance. – AFP A RUSSIAN military plane was flying in the skies over Berdyansk, a city in southern Ukraine, but no one took much notice. “Nothing to worry about,” said an older woman sitting on a bench in a small square on a sunny weekend afternoon. “It’s one of ours.” Russian forces took control of this port city on the Sea of Azov in the first days of the military campaign they launched in Ukraine in late February, facing almost no resistance. In the weeks since, it has been cut off from other parts of the country, as Moscow’s troops and pro-Russian separatists battle to seize swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. AFP journalists were able to travel to Berdyansk, as well as the city of Melitopol about 100km to the west, as part of a press tour organised by the Russian army. Controlling the two cities […]