“Today they blew up the power poles, so we have no light and no water,” he added.
While state media in Russia said Ukrainian shelling had damaged power lines, Yaroslav Yanush, the exiled Ukrainian head of Kherson’s regional military administration, blamed Russian forces.
Russian forces have also placed mines around water towers in Beryslav, Mr Yanushch said, referring to a town less than 50 miles (80 km) from the city of Kherson and just north of a critical dam near the fighting frontlines.
Ukrainian officials say Russians, who have told civilians to evacuate, fear those left behind could provide intelligence to advancing Ukrainian troops or sabotage the Russian military. The Kremlin-appointed governor of the region has warned that any civilians remaining could be treated as hostile.
Before the war, about 250,000 people lived in the city. Ukrainian activists estimate that there are 30,000 to 60,000 people left, but it is impossible to know how accurate such guesses are.
Last month, the occupation authorities ordered the evacuation of civilians from the west side of the river. They sent thousands of them east to territory more tightly controlled by Russia, while blocking routes to Ukraine-controlled areas. The Moscow-installed government also left, while loot the city, according to residents and Ukrainian officials.
Some Ukrainian officials and residents say the evacuation of civilians was a pretext for forced deportations. Others say it was about freeing up space for newly mobilized Russian troops.
The loss of Kherson would be a major blow to the Kremlin.
When Russian troops stormed the Antonivsky Bridge over the Dnipro River in March and to the city of Kherson, a major port and a former shipbuilding center, it marked their greatest success in the early days of the war. Mr Putin hoped to use the wider Kherson region as a bridgehead for a drive further west to the port city of Odessa, but that attempt failed.