Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Kherson on Monday, a major southern city recaptured from the Russians last week, a source in the Ukrainian presidency said.
Russian forces withdrew from Kherson a few days ago after an occupation that lasted nearly eight months, leaving the way open for Ukrainian troops to enter the city today.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced last Wednesday that the Russian armed forces would withdraw from Kherson, in the region of the same name, illegally annexed by Moscow in September.
Kherson, in southern Ukraine, was a region annexed by Russia in September, along with Lugansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia, which was condemned by the international community.
In addition, Kherson is also one of the targets of a counteroffensive launched by kyiv forces about two months ago.
The city of Kherson was the only regional capital that Russian forces had occupied in the more than eight months of war in Ukraine, which began on February 24 with a Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory.
According to the Russian news agency TASS, military commanders informed the Russian Defense Minister on the ground that it was impossible to supply the city and other areas on the western bank of the Dnieper with supplies, and Shoigu agreed to the proposal to withdraw the troops on the east bank.
The pro-Russian authorities in Kherson had already admitted on Tuesday the numerical superiority of the Ukrainian forces in the region.
The withdrawal began the next day, Thursday, but the responsible Ukrainian officials remained cautious fearing that it was a trap, with the danger of an ambush.
The situation in the port city remained very vague during the first days, with the population fearing to leave their homes.
The forced withdrawal from Kherson, the only provincial capital Moscow has ever conquered, could spell one of the biggest military setbacks for Russian forces, recalling their withdrawal from the kyiv region at the start of the conflict, which began on February 24.
The recapture of Kherson could allow Ukraine to regain territories in the south, including eventually Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak warned that Russian forces had laid mines in Kherson, saying they intended to turn it into a “city of death.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak were cautious in both statements. Sunak contacted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today and his office said the two agreed “on the need to maintain prudence until the Ukrainian flag is raised in the city.”
However, US Army chief General Mark Milley said Wednesday that he believed a withdrawal was in the works, but that Russia had massed 20,000 to 30,000 troops in Kherson and that a full withdrawal could drag it out by several weeks.
On Friday, Moscow stressed that Kherson, including the capital of the same name, remains part of Russia, despite the withdrawal, but on the same day, the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform published a photo of “Ukrainian patriots” raising the flag of Ukraine in Freedom. Square in the center of Kherson.
Source: TSF
