In a statement, military commanders in Moscow said that “all Russian servicemen crossed” the river without “losses of personnel, weapons, military equipment and material.” The announcement came just two days after Russia’s defense chief ordered a retreat from the city of Kherson, with his top commander in Ukraine telling him in a televised conversation that it was “not easy” to make the call but that it would “save the lives of our army”. There was no immediate response from Ukrainian or US military officials to confirm the Russian announcement, but Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko told CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay that his country’s forces were in the city of Kherson on Friday morning. He had earlier said in a tweet that Ukrainian troops were “already in Kherson”. An image from a video posted on the social media app Telegram on November 11, 2022, which CBS News could not independently verify but confirmed information provided by multiple sources, shows a civilian hugging a Ukrainian soldier after a Ukrainian posted national flag in front of the Kherson police station, shortly after Russia announced the completion of its withdrawal from the city. Telegram Images quickly appeared on social media showing Ukraine’s national flag flying in front of the regional administration building. Videos showed civilians hugging Ukrainian soldiers and helping them hang Ukrainian flags on other buildings, including the city’s police headquarters. There were claims by Ukrainian citizens on social media that some Russian troops had dressed in civilian clothes and remained behind, and Ukrainian troops were entering cautiously, wary of mines and booby traps. Ukrainian and US officials have been skeptical of the Russian withdrawal announcement since it was issued on Wednesday, suggesting it could be a trap to lure Ukrainian forces east towards entrenched Russian positions on the east bank of the Dnipro. A map showing the oblasts or politically administered regions of Ukraine and their regional capitals. Getty/iStock As of Thursday afternoon in Ukraine, U.S. officials told CBS News they had seen no signs of Russian troops moving in significant numbers along the river. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin said this was not necessarily taken as evidence that the withdrawal announcement was a ruse, just that it will likely take time. While there was no official confirmation of the status of the Russian withdrawal from Ukrainian commanders, unverified videos posted online showed Russian troops crossing a bridge on the Dnipro on foot. The bridge was right next to the larger Antonivskiy Bridge, which many videos showed completely useless, with a large section destroyed. Russian soldiers walking on a floating bridge right next to the damaged Antonovsky Bridge in the Kherson region. pic.twitter.com/528rIt0YSY — Clash Report (@clashreport) November 11, 2022 While it was not immediately clear what caused the road bridge to collapse, BBC News reported that the key piece of infrastructure had been “gradually destroyed by Ukrainian missiles” during Russia’s months-long occupation of the city of Kherson and much of the surrounding area. . Russian invasion forces have suffered setbacks over the past two months, retreating from towns and villages west of Kherson and areas north of that region amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive boosted by a massive influx of Western arms. An image from a video posted on the Telegram messaging app on November 11, 2022 shows what is described as a soldier holding a Ukrainian national flag in the village of Klapaya, about 10 miles west of the city of Kherson, after the village was retaken by Russia. invasion forces. Telegram While the Ukrainian advance quickly pushed back the Russians, the U.S. has been reluctant to grant the country’s requests for even more advanced weapons systems, and many analysts expect the rapid frontline shift of the past two months to slow as winter sets in and Russia consolidates. in positions he held for years further in eastern Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers just a few miles from enemy lines are using Western-supplied drones to hone in on Russian positions. But the Russians can see the Ukrainians coming, too. Russia’s relatively new commander in the war – dubbed the “Armageddon General” – has shown he is willing to use destructive tactics, relying on long-range missile and drone strikes to hit civilian areas in an attempt to reduce morale. Ukrainian. Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid leave 4.5 million without power 05:29 The raids knocked out electricity and water to millions of Ukrainians, and as CBS News correspondent Chris Livesay reports, Russia’s retreating forces have also left behind a deadly trail of land mines and booby traps. Even if and when Ukraine confirms that Russian forces have withdrawn from Kherson, the Russian threat, with its indiscriminate firepower, will still be entrenched just across the river. And despite growing calls for peace talks, there is little to suggest that the war that has raged for more than eight months and simmered for more than eight years before that is about to end. So far, US officials estimate that the war has claimed the lives of around 40,000 Ukrainian civilians, while around 100,000 of the country’s forces have been killed or wounded. Russian forces are believed to have suffered a similar number of casualties. CBS News producer Erin Lyall contributed to this report. More Tucker Reals Tucker Reals is the foreign editor for CBSNews.com, based in the CBS News London bureau.
