Ukraine on Friday said its forces were moving into the southern city of Kherson and celebrated an “important victory” after Russia announced its forces had withdrawn from the only regional capital it captures after nearly nine months of fighting would have.
The announcement that Moscow’s withdrawal had ended came hours after Russian attacks killed seven people in Mykolaiv, a town near Kherson that Russian forces had been battering for months.
“Kherson is returning to Ukrainian control and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are entering the city,” the Defense Ministry said on social media.
She added that her artillery teams had clear views on Russia’s withdrawal routes and warned: “Any attempt to oppose Ukraine’s armed forces will be stopped.”
Russia had previously announced that it had completed the withdrawal of its troops.
But the Kremlin insisted that Kherson is still part of Russia and that it has no regrets annexing the entire Kherson region at a lavish ceremony in late September.
“The movement of Russian troops to the left [eastern] Bank of the Dnipro River completed. Not a single piece of military equipment and weapons was left on the right side [western] bank,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
– ‘No regret’ –
“Ukraine is in the process of winning another important victory, proving that whatever Russia says or does, Ukraine will win,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on social media.
He posted an amateur video showing Ukrainians removing a billboard near Kherson that read, “Russia is here forever.”
The Ukrainian parliament released pictures of people with Ukrainian flags in the city center.
Kherson was the first major urban hub to fall to Russian troops after President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, and it was the only regional capital his troops captured.
Its full recapture by Kyiv would be a political and symbolic blow to Putin and would open a gateway for Ukrainian forces to the entire Kherson region, with access to both the Black Sea to the west and the Sea of ??Azov to the east.
It would also disrupt a land bridge important to Russia between its mainland and the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukrainian officials were initially cautious after Moscow announced this week that it would move troops to defensive positions on the east bank of the river in Kherson.
While what looks like a major Russian backlash in a region Vladimir Putin allegedly annexed, the Kremlin on Friday dismissed any suggestion that the region’s status had changed following the withdrawal.
“This is an issue of the Russian Federation. There are no changes in that and there can be no changes,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
The Kherson region was one of four Ukrainian territories that Putin allegedly annexed during a grand ceremony at the Kremlin in late September, and vowed at the time to use all available methods to defend it against Kyiv.
– “cynical” attack –
Asked by reporters if Russia now regrets annexing Kherson, Peskov said the Kremlin had “no regrets” about the move.
Moscow’s announcement that it had completed the withdrawal in Kherson came after a deadly Russian attack on an apartment building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
Russian troops failed to capture the Black Sea city from Ukraine in the early stages of their invasion, but have been firing rockets and missiles at the embattled city for months.
An AFP journalist saw a gaping hole cut through a Soviet-style apartment building at the site of the strike while yellow-helmeted rescue workers cleared debris at the site.
Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim said on social media that the toll has increased to six.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the strike as a “cynical reaction to our successes at the front”.
He announced late Thursday that his forces had recaptured more than 40 towns and villages in southern Ukraine during a counter-offensive launched in August.
On Thursday, the United States announced a new $400 million security assistance package for Kyiv that includes defense systems and surface-to-air missiles.
“(With) Russia’s relentless and brutal airstrikes on Ukrainian civilian and critical infrastructure, additional air defense capabilities are critical,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters.
