There are reports that Ukraine could be on the verge of recapturing the south center of Kherson, potentially dealing another devastating blow to Vladimir Putin after Russia’s recent setbacks.
Forces from both sides continued to fight without significant changes on the ground on the eastern and southern fronts of Ukraine, with preparations for a struggle for the region.
The Ukrainians launched a lightning counteroffensive in September that drove the Russians from the lands east of the 1.4 million-strong northern city of Kharkiv.
Now, a similar feat in the smaller city of Kherson could prove even more painful for the Russian occupation.
The river port and its namesake region gave Putin a much-coveted land link to the Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin seized in 2014.
Its loss could open Ukraine’s way back to the commercially vital Sea of Azov and threaten Russia’s control over Crimea itself.
The Russians have evacuated tens of thousands of civilians and poured in reinforcements ahead of the most consequential clash in the ninth month of war.
But information blackouts from both Moscow and Kyiv mean the true course of the battle can only be glimpsed from so-called gray areas that neither side fully controls.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Ukraine “certainly” has the strength to retake the region.
“The most important thing is that Ukrainians believe they have the ability to do this. We have seen them engage in a very methodical but effective effort to reclaim their sovereign territory.”
Gres, an aging Ukrainian soldier, has not yet dared to walk the few hundred steps from his checkpoint to the Kherson border bridge because of the unpredictable dangers.
An aircraft he assumed might have been Russian had flown overhead that morning and enemy artillery fire was still well within range.
“It feels a lot closer than before,” he said.
“There were far fewer medical cars coming down the bridge.
“It seems like about two weeks ago, something happened.”
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As the fighting became increasingly focused on the Russian-held city, Kyiv on Thursday condemned the “massive forced relocation” of its citizens living in Russian-occupied regions.
“The Russian occupation administration began the mass forcible relocation of residents of the left bank of the Kherson region … to the temporarily occupied Crimea or Russia,” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Russia is also carrying out similar deportations in Zaporizhzhia, Lugansk and Donetsk regions, as well as in Crimea.” Kherson’s Moscow-based governor, Vladimir Saldo, said he was moving more people to the region or Russia because of the risks of a “massive missile attack.” Moscow-installed authorities in Kherson said last week that 70,000 civilians had fled their homes on the right bank of the Dnipro.
The development comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s campaign against Ukraine’s power grid has left around 4.5 million people without electricity.
“Tonight, about 4.5 million consumers have been temporarily disconnected from energy consumption,” Zelensky said in his daily speech.
“The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy terrorism shows the weakness of our enemy. They cannot beat Ukraine on the battlefield, so they are trying to break our people this way,” Zelensky said.
For weeks, Russian forces have rained missiles and explosive drones on Ukraine’s infrastructure, apparently hoping to turn sentiment among the Ukrainian public and its neighbors against the war during the cold winter.
Russian strikes over the past month have destroyed around a third of the country’s power plants. The government has urged Ukrainians to conserve electricity as much as possible.
Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the Group of Seven industrialized powers, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the G7 would help Ukraine with items such as generators and heaters to survive the winter.
Meanwhile, the UN’s IAEA nuclear watchdog said its inspectors had found no signs of “undeclared nuclear activity” at three sites they had inspected in Ukraine.
The inspectors inspected the sites at Kyiv’s request to refute Moscow’s allegations that Ukraine was preparing to use crude bombs against Russian troops.
Kyiv has raised fears that Moscow could resort to using a dirty bomb in a “false flag” attack.
Zelensky said Thursday that the IAEA’s conclusion is “obvious.” “We have given them full freedom of action at the relevant facilities, and we have clear and irrefutable evidence that no one in Ukraine has created or is creating any ‘dirty bombs’.”
Meanwhile, a modicum of normalcy was gradually returning to areas of southern and eastern Ukraine recently retaken by Ukrainian troops, although the humanitarian situation remains fragile.
In the village of Lymany in southern Ukraine, an aid volunteer said she was concerned that so many residents were returning despite the dangers.
“It would be a lot easier if these people weren’t out here,” Yulia Pogrebna, 32, said as she handed out boxes of food to residents.
— with the AFP