Ukraine says its forces have reclaimed dozens of landmine-strewn towns and villages abandoned by Russian forces in southern Ukraine as they approach the outskirts of the strategic capital Kherson.
In his speech on Thursday evening, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that “dozens of Ukrainian flags have already returned to their rightful place”.
Today we have good news from the south,” the Ukrainian president said. “Forty-one settlements were liberated.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
According to a Guardian report, Ukraine claimed it had liberated the main city of Snihurivka, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Kherson. Images have also surfaced of Ukrainian soldiers carrying a Ukrainian flag in Kyslivka, a village just outside Klapaya and about 15 kilometers from Kherson city centre.
The large sack around the city once held by Russian troops also seemed to be shrinking. Video posted by Russian soldiers retreating across the Dnipro seemed to confirm that at least some troops had already withdrawn.
Kiev has said it is wary of storming in and claiming victory, warning it could be a trap set by the Kremlin.
Ukrainian army chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said Kiev could not yet confirm whether Russia was indeed withdrawing from the city, but said Kiev’s armed forces have advanced 36.5 km (22.7 miles) and attacked 41 towns and cities in the region. have recaptured since October 1.
That included 12 settlements on Wednesday alone.
Russian troops ‘run away’ from Kherson
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has said it will be at least a week before Russia withdraws from the city of Kherson.
Russia still has 40,000 troops in the region and intelligence showed its troops remained in and around the city, Reznikov said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.
It is not so easy to withdraw these troops from Kherson in one or two days. At least, [it will take] a week.”
He added that intelligence showed that Russian troops remained in the city, around the city and on the western bank of the Dnipro.
Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy chief of Ukraine’s military intelligence, estimated that more than half of the Russian troops stationed on the city’s right bank were still there — a force previously set at 20,000, the Guardian reported. .
