Ukrainian forces enter Kherson as Russia retreats across the Dnieper River

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement reported by official news agencies in the early hours of Friday morning, that its troops and equipment were withdrawn from the western bank of the Dnieper River, which ended its embarrassing exit from the city of Kherson and a large part of the surrounding area.

That was faster than many Western analysts and officials had expected, which raised some doubts. Ukraine said the remaining Russian fighters dressed as civilians to avoid detection and capture.

“Kherson is back under the control of Ukraine, and parts of the Ukrainian armed forces are entering the city,” the Main Directorate of Ukrainian Intelligence wrote on its Facebook page.

“Your commanders are urging you to put on civilian clothes and try to escape from Kherson on your own. You obviously cannot do that,” she said in a message to Russian soldiers. “You only have one chance to avoid death – to give up immediately.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the incident was humiliating to Putin, who just weeks ago announced the region’s annexation.

In central Kherson, a strategic port city captured by Putin’s forces in the early days of the war, videos and photos verified by NBC News showed residents cheering and celebrating while waving Ukrainian flags outside the regional administration building. Some threw Ukrainian soldiers into the air.

But officials in Kyiv remained cautious, warning that Russian forces could inflict heavy damage with artillery shelling and mines left behind as they retreated.

A deadly missile attack was reported in the nearby city of Mykolaiv, while a major bridge over the Dnieper River was left in ruins in the wake of Russia’s exit, according to photos and videos that emerged Friday and were verified by NBC News.

The Antonevsky Bridge is the only road that crosses from the city of Kherson to the east bank of the river, where Russian troops have now set up their new defensive lines.

Damage to the bridge might slow any further Ukrainian advance, but for now its army and locals were happy to return the country’s flag to lands that had been occupied since the early days of the war.

fatal blow

The recapture of Kherson could be a decisive strategic and psychological victory for Ukraine.

It was the only regional capital Russia had captured and controlled since its massive invasion on February 24, and its capture helped ensure access to the coast, allowing the Kremlin to establish a land corridor through southern Ukraine.

It also serves as a vital gateway to Crimea, which Russia has occupied since 2014.

The Ukrainian army targeted the main crossings of the Dnieper River for several months, which made it difficult for Russia to supply forces on the western bank of the river. Since they stormed the front lines of Russia at the beginning of October, the Ukrainians have slowly advanced towards Kherson.

Christopher Toke, a strategic studies analyst at King’s College London, told NBC News that the city’s loss was a “huge blow to the Russians”.

This, he said, made “Putin look weak and make Russia look weak.”

“Just a few months ago, Putin was defining the Kherson region as part of Russia itself,” he added, referring to the announcement at the end of September that Moscow had annexed the Kherson region, along with Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya. . This came after Russia held referendums Kyiv and the West denounced it as illegal and fraudulent.

It was also a boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Tack said, “because it is an indication that Ukraine’s previous gains in the northeast were not just one and there is more momentum behind his country’s military efforts.”