Amid reports of wounded Russian soldiers being abandoned or captured, Ukrainian shelling of troop crossings across the Dnipro River, a Russian soldier said some units were ordered to escape any way they could. Photos released on social media by Kherson on Friday morning are said to show Ukrainian infantry welcoming residents in the city’s Korabelnyi district with the city’s Garrison pub visible in the background. As the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the withdrawal was “complete”, key bridges and crossings over the Dnipro were blown up, including the Antonivsky Bridge, a pontoon under it and a nearby railway span. Images of the retreat showed long lines of Russian infantry rushing over the Antonievsky embankment and columns of vehicles rushing to use the crossings at night. In its daily briefing cited by Russian news agencies, the ministry said all forces and equipment had been moved to the left, or eastern, bank of the Dnipro River. It said the withdrawal was completed at 05:00 Moscow time (02:00 GMT) on Friday. This claim could not be verified. The Kremlin remained defiant, insisting that the retreat was in no way an embarrassment to President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow continues to consider the Kherson region part of Russia. Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian troops after Putin announced Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, and was the only regional capital captured by his forces. It was one of the areas annexed by Russia in September, a move denounced by the international community. An estimated 20,000 Russian troops were stationed west of the Dnipro in and around the city of Kherson. As the Russians left, a large Ukrainian flag was flown in central Kherson overnight, possibly by guerrillas active in the city, as residents largely stayed indoors amid some reports that Ukrainian special forces had entered the city. With Ukrainian estimates suggesting that half of those soldiers had withdrawn from the river by Thursday evening, footage posted on Russian social media channels showed panic among some units as they tried to escape. As the main body of Ukrainian forces, advancing from three directions, took village after village in its approach, residents tore down pro-Russian propaganda posters and embraced the advancing troops in extraordinary and emotional scenes. Russia announced on Wednesday that it would withdraw from the West Bank of the Dnipro that includes the city of Kherson, the only regional capital Moscow has seized since invading Ukraine in February. An unidentified Russian soldier who published an account of the retreat described one unit throwing away its uniforms while blaming those in Russia who rationalized the retreat. “Hey everyone, I’m alive,” says the soldier, his face visibly tired against the night sky. “What can I say? Everything I said has been done. Those who try to find an excuse for it by comparing it with Borodino [the bloody battle during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia] or anything else you can tell them to fuck off. Those who think everything will be fine later, tell them to go fuck themselves. “They’re digging fortifications in the Crimea and in one unit, which I won’t name, the last order was to change into civilian clothes and fuck yourself any way you want.” Russian soldiers pictured in the Kherson region in May. Photo: AP Other Russian social media channels also used the word “panic” to describe the situation among some units waiting to cross amid warnings that new Russian defense lines on the east bank of the Dnipro could soon come under attack. Ukrainian officials, however, had earlier suggested that it would take much longer for Russia to complete its withdrawal. In an interview with Reuters in Kyiv, Oleksii Reznikov said Russia had 40,000 troops in the Kherson region (double other estimates) and still had forces in and around the city and on the west bank of the Dnipro, despite its announcement their retreat. “It is not so easy to withdraw these troops from Kherson in one or two days. As a minimum, [it will take] a week,” he said, adding that it was difficult to predict Russia’s actions and that Kyiv was focused on its own plan. graphic Reznikov said such an exit would free up forces from both sides to fight elsewhere and suggested Russia could bolster its troops in the neighboring region of Zaporizhia, which has also been partially occupied for months. “Winter will slow down all activity on the battlefield for all sides… It is beneficial for all sides. You will rest,” he said. He predicted that Ukraine would emerge from the lull strong, bolstered by thousands of British-trained troops. “We will use this time to maximum effect for our armed forces, to rebuild, to renew and to rotate and prepare them well.” Ukrainian witnesses, however, indicated that retreating Russian convoys were still moving through the city of Kherson throughout the night at high speed to reach crossing points. The retreat came as six people were killed in a Russian rocket attack on an apartment building in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv early Friday, local mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said. Rescuers were digging through the wreckage for survivors, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
