In the first days of the invasion, Russian forces established control over and unblocked the North Crimean Canal, effectively rescinding a longstanding water blockage imposed on Crimea by Ukraine after the 2014 Russian annexation of the peninsula.[14] On 4 March, a Kherson resident told CNN and alleged that Russian soldiers had raped 11 women in Kherson, and six of those women were killed, including a teenager.[15][16] However, Hennadiy Lahuta, the head of the Ukrainian Kherson Regional State Administration, denied these allegations, stating that they were disinformation.[17]