Russian control of the key southern Ukraine city of Kherson appeared increasingly in doubt on Thursday after officials suggested that Kremlin’s troops would withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River.
More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion in Ukraine, the two countries are still in a tough struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
In the last couple of weeks, the Ukrainian army has made “spectacular” advances in its campaign to regain territory occupied by the Russians, who have been forced to move to a more defensive position and are “critically short on munitions, the official said on Thursday.
Russia is believed to have temporarily bolstered its forces near Kherson to cover a retreat to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River and has also ordered civilians to evacuate from occupied areas on the western bank.
Just weeks after Moscow claimed the area, Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said that the troops would try and regroup on the other side of the river.
“Most likely, our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left (eastern) bank,” he said in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro Kremlin online media outlet.
“Civilians remaining in Kherson city should leave immediately as they are putting their lives in danger,” he added.
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Auston also gave an update on the Ukraine advances.
“On the issue of whether or not Ukrainians can take the remaining territory on the west side of the Dnieper River in Kherson, I certainly believe that they have the capability to do that,” Austin told a press conference.
“Most importantly, the Ukrainians believe they have the capability to do that. We have seen them engage in a very methodical but effective effort to take back their sovereign territory.”
Source: Politico, ABC News, NBC News, image from Twitter: @francis_scarr