Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the victory of the Ukrainian troops in Kherson on Saturday.
In his nightly video address, Zelenskyy said that defense forces have won back control of more than 60 settlements in the Kherson region and promised that Ukrainian troops will “liberate our entire land from the invaders.”
But the Ukrainian president also cautioned vigilance. While people are celebrating in Kherson, further east in the Donetsk area, he said, brutal battles are being fought every day.
“It’s hell there,” he said.
As the Russian forces withdrew from Kherson, Zelenskyy said, they destroyed critical infrastructure there, including communications, the water supply, plants supplying heat and electricity. He also cautioned Kherson residents that retreating Russian soldiers had mined the area.
“Almost 2,000 explosive items have already been removed from the areas but there is a lot more to be done,” he said.
Images by the Planet Lab, a data imaging service, show Russian troops digging trenches and building fortifications on the east bank of the Dnipro River, according to images published on Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Images taken November 10 show a new line of trenches almost 2 kilometers long along the riverbank north of the Kakhovskaya dam. Satellite photos also confirm that the Russian army blew up several spans of a bridge leading to the Kakhovskaya dam.
Earlier Saturday, the White House hailed as an "extraordinary victory" Ukraine’s liberation of the city of Kherson from Russia, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Saturday.
"It does look as though the Ukrainians have just won an extraordinary victory in Kherson, where the one regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back under a Ukrainian flag — and that is quite a remarkable thing," he told reporters while accompanying President Joe Biden to the ASEAN summit in Cambodia.
His comments came after Zelenskyy declared Kherson “ours” in a video message on Telegram.
Grain initiative
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Saturday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Blinken discussed with Kuleba the United States’ unwavering commitment to assist Ukraine with accelerated humanitarian aid and winterization efforts to mitigate the damage from Russia’s continued attacks on critical infrastructure.
The two officials also talked about Ukraine’s continued effectiveness on the battlefield, and Blinken reiterated that “the timing and substance of any negotiation framework remains Ukraine’s decision.”
Blinken and Kuleba reaffirmed the importance of the Black Sea Grain Initiative’s renewal before it expires November 19 and its role in supporting global food security.
Russia says it wants unhindered access to markets for its own food and fertilizer exports as part any renewal of the grain initiative that allows Ukraine to export grain from Black Sea ports. Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of playing “hunger games” with the world.
Russian threat
No one should “underestimate the continuing threat posed by the Russian Federation,” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said in a statement Saturday welcoming the Russian withdrawal from Kherson and proclaiming that Britain and the international community will continue to support Ukraine.
Addressing Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson, Wallace also posed the question, “Now with that also being surrendered, ordinary people of Russia must surely ask themselves ‘What was it all for?’”
In its daily update of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday that Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson “is a public recognition of the difficulties faced by Russian forces on the west bank of the Dnipro River.”
In the intelligence update posted on Twitter, the ministry said while the withdrawal came only two days after its announcement, “it is likely that the withdrawal process had already started as early as 22 October 2022 when Russian-installed figures in Kherson urged civilians to leave the city.”
Russia said Friday it had finished the withdrawal of its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River and no soldiers or equipment had been left behind.
Retreating Russian soldiers, though, painted a different picture. A Russian soldier described how he and his fellow soldiers were asked to hastily change into civilian clothing so they would not be detected. Also, some of the retreating soldiers reportedly drowned in the river while trying to escape.
For those Russian troops who did not make it out of the city, "the only chance to avoid death is to immediately surrender," the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Intelligence Directorate said.
Ukrainian forces entered the city of Kherson, a strategic port city on the Dnipro River, Friday, as Russian forces retreated. People rejoiced in the streets of Kherson welcoming the Ukrainian troops. Many recounted horror stories of Russian soldiers killing civilians and looting homes.
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
