Natalia Humeniuk, spokesman for Ukraine’s southern military command, said it could be a Russian decoy.
“This could be an expression of a certain provocation, to give the impression that the settlements are deserted, that it is safe to enter them while they are preparing for street fighting,” she said in televised comments.
Russian soldiers guard an area during a visit by a group of foreign journalists in Kherson, southern Ukraine’s Kherson region.Credit:AP
“We continue to fight, also towards Kherson, despite the fact that the enemy is trying to convince us that they are leaving the settlements and creating the effect of a total evacuation,” she said.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he believed Ukrainian troops could recapture Kherson, in perhaps his most optimistic remarks about the pivotal campaign yet.
Russia has fought for months to hold on to the tract of land it owns on the western bank at the mouth of the river that divides Ukraine in two. Moscow had sent tens of thousands of troops to fortify the area, one of the top priorities on the battlefield.
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Ukraine has been attacking key river crossings for months, making it difficult for Russia to resupply its massive force on the western bank. Ukrainian troops have been advancing along the river since breaking through the Russian front line there in early October, though their advance had slowed in recent days.
Russia had ordered civilians to evacuate from occupied areas on the west bank, and this week also them from a 15 km buffer zone on the east bank. Kiev says those evacuation orders amount to forced deportation, a war crime.
Stremousov urged the civilians remaining in the city of Kherson to leave immediately, as they were putting their lives in danger.
Ukraine maintains strict secrecy about the progress of its troops on the Kherson front, but has so far been openly reluctant to suggest that Russia liberate positions there. Ukrainian troops on the front lines last week, visited by Reuters, said they saw no evidence that Russian troops were retreating and believed they were in fact strengthening.
Michael Kofman, a top US expert on the Russian military who has just returned from the Ukrainian side of the Kherson front, said Moscow’s intentions were unclear.
He doubted that Russia would leave the west bank of the river “without being forcibly squeezed out”, but he “could also be wrong”.
“The situation in Kherson is clear as a rock,” tweeted Kofman, director of Russia studies at the think tank Center for Naval Analyzes.
“Russian troops appeared to be withdrawing from some parts, evacuating and withdrawing, but also reinforced with mobilized personnel. The fights there are tough. Despite limited supplies, the Russian troops do not appear to be out of ammunition.”
The top European Union diplomat said international partners have a moral obligation to continue to support Ukraine in its fight against the invasion during the winter months.
Local residents walk in Kherson in May.Credit:AP
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell warned on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the German city of Münster that Putin was resorting to attacks on civilian infrastructure due to setbacks on the battlefield.
“Putin’s Russia is destroying Ukraine. They cannot occupy it, they cannot win on the battlefield, they cannot win the war – and they are systematically destroying the country,” the diplomat told reporters.