The Russian occupation regime is said to have removed the Russian flag from the roof of Kherson City Hall.
19:27•Updated 19:47
Russian troops are probably withdrawing from the bridgehead station on the West Bank of the Dnieper, said the deputy head of the occupation administration established by Russia in the Kherson region Kirill Stremousov today is thursday. He spoke in an interview with the pro-Kremlin Solovjov Live news channel.
The same Stremousov published a video on Telegram earlier in the day in which he urges the residents of Kherson to protect themselves.
Stremousov’s statements started a rumor mill, where the most enthusiastic saw the Russian troops quickly leaving Kherson and the vast bridgehead. Rumors were increased by the information spread on social media that the Russians had taken down the Russian flag flying at the Kherson city hall.
During the last couple of weeks, the Russians have urged or forced tens of thousands of Kherson residents to move to the east bank of the Dnieper. According to unconfirmed information circulating in the public, the Russian administration has also moved across the river, and even the prince of the famous Russian warlord, who died in 1791 Grigori Potemkin the body has reportedly been moved out of town.
However, no definite information has been received about the extensive withdrawal of the Russians. It is very difficult to get any unbiased information from the territory occupied by Russia. International news agencies have not reported that Russian soldiers are leaving.
Bridges destroyed
If the Russian troops at the bridgehead on the West Bank of the Dnieper began to move to the other side of the river on a large scale, it would not go unnoticed, nor would it happen in an instant.
In Russia, the number of soldiers stationed at the bridgehead is counted in the tens of thousands. They also carry large quantities of heavy equipment, including battle tanks. Evacuation could not be done without anyone noticing.
For months now, Ukraine’s tactic regarding the bridgehead has been to cut Russian transport connections. Long-range HIMARS rocket launchers have destroyed the bridges over the Dnieper. There are only three of them at the main bridge station, which is about a hundred kilometers wide; The great road bridge of Antonovsky near the city of Kherson, the railway bridge near it, and the great footbridge of Kakhovka.
The Russians may have made the road passing by the Kahovka bridge in a drivable condition, but there would be quite a lot of traffic jams on the bridge if Russia started withdrawing its brigades and divisions through it.
The Antonovsky bridges are apparently out of service. From the video images transmitted from Kherson, it appeared that when the city’s civilians were evacuated from the west bank, they had to be transported on ferries.
The Russians have built light pontoon bridges over the Dnieper that do not support heavy vehicles. The pontoon bridges built over the more than half a kilometer wide Dnieper are at the mercy of Ukrainian rocket launchers. If the Russians want to move their tanks across the river, they will probably have to be taken one at a time on ferries.
Is Russia strengthening its forces?
Over the past few days, there have actually been unconfirmed reports that Russia has strengthened its forces at the bridgehead. At least reservists would have been brought there to patch up the ranks of the troops that suffered losses. Russia is also said to be building fortifications to prepare for an urban battle in Kherson.
Military experts have considered that if Russia is really giving up the bridgehead, it should not give up the city of Kherson itself without a fight. A Russian invasion of the big city would tie up a large number of Ukrainian troops who would be away from other fronts. As seen in Mariupol, even a fairly small force can defend a well-fortified defensive position for a long time.
Ukraine has kept a strict news blackout regarding the events in Kherson. There has been no information about the aforementioned progress on the front.
In an interview with the news agency Reuters, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces speculated that the removal of the flag from the city hall and the talk of withdrawal could be a trap of the Russians, which will only entice the Ukrainian troops to march carelessly into the city and ambush the Russians.
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SOURCE: REUTERS