Ukrainian troops pushed forward and part of the front fell silent on Thursday after Moscow ordered one of the biggest retreats of the war, although Kyiv warned that fleeing Russians could turn Kherson into a “city of death”. . A small group of Ukrainian soldiers appeared on Ukrainian state television being greeted by jubilant residents in the center of the village of Snihurivka about 55 km (35 miles) north of the city of Kherson, with a Ukrainian flag flying over the square behind them. Reuters has verified the location of the video. “Today, November 10, 2022, Snihurivka was liberated by the forces of the 131st separate intelligence battalion. Glory to Ukraine!” a commander declared as dozens of locals clapped, cheered and filmed the soldiers on their phones. A few kilometers away, in a devastated front-line village reached by Reuters in an area already held by Ukrainian forces, the guns had fallen silent for what residents said was the first quiet night since the war began. “It’s like there was no war,” said Nadiia Nizarenko, 85, her face illuminated by a lamp powered by a car battery in the cramped apartment she, her daughter and son-in-law had refused to leave as the fighting raged. daily. around them. “We hope the silence means the Russians are leaving.” Ukraine’s army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian troops had advanced 7 kilometers in the past 24 hours and recaptured 12 settlements in the south, although he would not confirm whether Russia was indeed withdrawing as announced. “We continue to conduct the offensive operation according to our plan,” he wrote in a Telegram post. Frontline villagers were hesitant about Moscow’s intentions. The Russians could be preparing a trap, said Nizarenko’s daughter Svitlana Lischeniuk, 63, as she unloaded milk containers and jugs filled with well water from a trailer attached to the family car. Yet there was joy. Petro Lupan, a volunteer handing out bread to residents, told Reuters he was at a loss for words to express his feelings after learning of the recapture of Snihurivka from a friend who came there by phone. MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: GRAPHIC NEWS If Russia implements its withdrawal from an area that President Vladimir Putin annexed a month ago, it would be the biggest retreat since its forces withdrew from the outskirts of Kiev in March and a clear change in nine months’ momentum. – old war. Moscow ordered its troops on Wednesday to withdraw from the entire Russian enclave on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including the city of Kherson, the only regional capital Russia had captured in nine months of war. Ukrainian officials have so far been mostly cautious publicly, warning that the Russians may still be planning to wreak havoc on their way out. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Thursday that Russia wants to turn Kherson into a “city of death,” mining everything from apartments to sewers and planning to bombard the city from across the river. “This is what (the) ‘Russian world’ looks like: it came, robbed, celebrated, killed ‘martyrs’, left ruins and left,” he tweeted. Russia denies abusing civilians despite shelling populated areas throughout the conflict. It has evacuated thousands of civilians from the Kherson region in recent weeks in what Ukraine says involved illegal forced deportations. On the unusually quiet front line, fog had settled overnight, light snow fell and the ground was covered with frost. Ukrainian troops manning checkpoints were bundled up against the cold. Zelensky himself mentioned Kherson only once in his daily overnight televised address. Ukrainian forces were strengthening their positions “step by step” in the south, he said. “The enemy will not give us gifts.” Russian exodus to Georgia shakes ex-Soviet state walking a political tightrope As Iran provides military aid to Russia, it is not time for Western allies to waver, Ukraine’s defense minister said Canadian veteran from Saskatchewan killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine Kiev’s public reticence may in part reflect its urge to keep its own operations secret as it plans to inflict as much damage as possible on the thousands of Russian troops who may need to be ferried across the river. Asked about Kherson in an interview with CNN that aired Thursday, Zelensky said he could not give details because “I really want to have an unpleasant surprise for the enemy and not something they are prepared for.” Russian state media and pro-Kremlin war hawks defended the withdrawal as a necessary move, while acknowledging a heavy blow. “I know for sure that this decision was not easy for anyone. Not for those who took it, not for those of us who understood it would be like this, but still prayed it wouldn’t happen,” said Margarita Simonyan, head of RT, Russia’s international propaganda channel. A retreat would leave Moscow with only limited gains for a “special military operation” that has made it a pariah in the West and killed tens of thousands of its soldiers. Russian forces still hold other gains in the south, including a vital land route linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula it seized in 2014, and cities in the east it mostly destroyed while taking them. Victory in Kherson may reassure some Western voices calling for Kyiv to negotiate a peace that would cede territory. “This is a validation of Ukraine’s military strategy and the approach taken by its senior leadership. They’re getting it and the Russians know it,” tweeted Mick Ryan, a retired Australian general. “Now is NOT the time to force Ukraine into negotiations. The Russians may be weakened, but they are not abandoning their territorial ambitions. They should be defeated on the battlefield and pushed out of Ukraine.” Russian forces are being held at bay in Ukraine’s eastern frontline town of Avdiivka, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russian forces are losing “hundreds” of soldiers a day on the Donetsk front. Reuters
