Russia said on Friday it is strengthening its positions in the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Ukraine in 2014, while Kiev’s forces are retaking territory in the neighboring Kherson region.

Moscow annexed Crimea after nationwide pro-democracy demonstrations that led to the ousting of Ukraine’s former pro-Kremlin president.

And it was used as a launch pad for the Russian invasion in February, when Moscow’s forces pushed north and quickly captured towns in southern Ukraine.

“On the territory of Crimea under my control, fortification works are being carried out to ensure the safety of all Crimean residents,” said the region’s Moscow-appointed governor Sergei Aksyonov.

He added that the military and law enforcement agencies are already working to ensure Crimeans “feel safe.”

His announcement comes as Ukrainian forces have pushed a counter-offensive south into Crimea in recent months and last week recaptured Kherson, the capital of the peninsula bordering the annexed peninsula.

After the city’s electricity and water supplies were cut after the retreating Russians destroyed key utilities, residents quickly went to stockpile basic supplies in the southern Ukrainian city.

Deputy head of the Kherson region Sergiy Khlan announced on Friday that the city of Kherson’s rail link will be restored with a first train departing later in the day.

“At the moment we are only starting one train and later we will see if the route becomes regular,” a spokeswoman for the national railway operator told AFP.

Ukraine’s presidency said it was doing everything possible to improve conditions in Kherson and that neighboring areas also beset by Russian forces would help the liberated area.

“Our people there need a lot of help. The Russians not only killed and mined cities, but also robbed cities. There’s actually nothing left,” said Deputy President Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

Russia claimed in September that it also annexed the Kherson region, along with three others, and pledged to defend it with all available military means.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces also intend to retake the peninsula.

Since February there have been multiple explosions at or near Russian military installations in Crimea, including a coordinated drone attack on a key Russian naval port in Sevastopol.

In October, the Kerch Bridge, which linked the peninsula to mainland Russia, was partially destroyed in an attack attributed by Moscow to Ukraine.

Russia announced on Friday that it is also making gains in the eastern Donetsk region, which its armed forces have partially controlled since 2014.

“As a result of the offensive work of Russian troops, the settlement of Opytnoe was liberated,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Friday.

Moscow’s troops, along with troops from two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine and mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group, have been trying for months to capture the nearby town of Bakhmut.

Russia has responded with a fresh spate of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, crippling the power grid after its troops withdrew from Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that about 10 million people were affected by power outages as a result.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Friday it had used “long-range precision weapons” against military targets, particularly fuel and energy infrastructure.

“The objectives of the attack were achieved. All missiles hit exactly the intended targets,” Konashenkov said.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office said Friday the death toll during strikes earlier in the week in Vilniansk, in the Zaporizhia region, which Moscow had also annexed, left 10 dead, including two children.

Tymoshenko, meanwhile, said six civilians were killed in four different regions of Ukraine after Thursday’s strikes.