The commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military said Thursday that Russia “was left with no other option but to resort to fleeing” in the Kherson region.
“Significant efforts of our military are behind the so-called ‘goodwill gesture’ of the enemy,” Valerii Zaluzhnyi said on Twitter.
“Just as the enemy retreated from Kyiv and Kharkiv oblast, abandoned Zmiinyi (Snake) Island, the likely pullout from Kherson are the outcome of our active operations.”
In the past day alone, Zaluzhnyi said that Ukraine had liberated hundreds of square kilometers of territory in the push towards occupied Kherson city.
“Only during the past day along Petropavlivka–Novoraisk axis, [Ukrainian] Defence Forces advanced 7km, retook control over 6 settlements, 107 sq km of [Ukrainian] territory,” he said. “Along Pervomaiske–Kherson axis, we advanced 7km, retook control over 6 settlements, the area of liberated territory is 157 sq km.”
Zaluzhnyi said that in Ukraine’s counter-offensive towards occupied Kherson, its forces have “destroyed the logistic lines & support system, disrupted the enemy’s command & control system.”
Nonetheless, he expressed skepticism that Russia would voluntarily withdraw from all of the Kherson region west of the Dnipro River.
“As of now, we can neither confirm nor deny the information about the so-called withdrawal of [Russian] occupational troops from Kherson,” he said. “We keep conducting offensive operations in accordance with our plan.”