On Friday, the withdrawal was completed at 5 a.m. Moscow time (0200 GMT) and not a single military unit was left behind, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defense ministry. But Ukraine said the retreat was less than smooth, with reports of Russian troops suffocating while trying to leave. However, videos circulating on social media show dozens of Ukrainians cheering victory slogans in Kherson’s central square. Two men lifted a female soldier onto their shoulders and threw her into the air. Some residents wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags. A man was crying for joy. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted video of residents taking down Russian posters and said: “Russia is here forever,” said one poster in Bilozherka near Kherson. Actually, not exactly! “To everyone in the world, including ASEAN where I am right now: Ukraine wins another important victory right now and proves that whatever Russia says or does, Ukraine will win.” “Russia is here forever,” read a poster in Bilozherka near Kherson. Actually, not exactly! To everyone in the world, including ASEAN where I am right now: Ukraine wins another major victory right now and proves that whatever Russia says or does, Ukraine will win. pic.twitter.com/8bc4JGNajX — Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) November 11, 2022 Serhiy Khlan, deputy of the Kherson Regional Council, told a briefing that many Russian soldiers had failed to leave the city of Kherson after months of occupation and had changed into civilian clothes. Ukrainian officials were wary of the Russian withdrawal announced this week, fearing their troops could be lured into an ambush in the city of Kherson, which had a population of 280,000 before the war. Military analysts also predicted that it would take the Russian military at least a week to complete the troop withdrawal.
‘I dont regret’
The Kremlin remained defiant on Friday, insisting the development was in no way an embarrassment to President Vladimir Putin. Moscow continues to see the entire Kherson region as part of Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This is a matter for the Russian Federation. There are no changes to it and there can be no changes,” Peskov said, adding that Moscow has “no regrets” over the move. He added that the Kremlin did not regret holding celebrations just a month ago to celebrate the annexation of Kherson and three other occupied or partially occupied regions of Ukraine. Russia ordered the withdrawal on Wednesday after it said efforts to maintain its position and supply troops were “futile” in the face of a growing Ukrainian counteroffensive. Putin declared Kherson and three other regions of Ukraine part of Russia in a triumphal ceremony in the Kremlin on September 30. Ukraine, its Western allies and the vast majority of countries in the United Nations General Assembly condemned the annexations as illegal. Ukrainian troops recaptured dozens of landmine settlements abandoned by Russian forces in southern Ukraine advancing towards Kherson on Friday. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address that Ukrainian forces had liberated 41 settlements.
Counterattack
Ukraine’s general staff said it was keeping its latest movements under wraps, but listed 12 settlements it said had been liberated as of Wednesday: one of them, Blagodatne, is 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the center of Kherson, a port in mouth of the Dnieper River. “Offensive actions in the designated direction are continuing,” it said. “Due to the security of the business, the official announcement of the results will be made later.” Russia still has 40,000 troops in the area and intelligence indicated that its forces remained in and around the city, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Thursday. Having previously warned that a Russian retreat could be a trap, some quarters in the Ukrainian government could barely hide their glee at the pace of the withdrawal. “Russian military leaves battlefields in triathlon fashion: steeplechase, broad jump, swim,” tweeted Andriy Yermak, a senior presidential adviser. Videos on social media apparently shot by soldiers en route to Kherson showed villagers embracing Ukrainian troops. Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine with a strong position from which to extend its southern counteroffensive into other Russian-held areas, possibly including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014. However, from the new positions of its forces on the east bank, the Kremlin could try to escalate the war. The status of the key Antonovsky bridge connecting the western and eastern banks of the Dnieper remained unclear. Russian media reports that the bridge was blown up after the Russian withdrawal. Pro-Kremlin journalists released footage of the bridge missing a large section. However, Sergey Yeliseyev, a Russian official in Kherson, told the Interfax news agency “the Antonovsky bridge was not blown up, it is in the same condition.”
