Jakarta –
Ministry of Defense Ukraine claimed that Russian troops had withdrawn from the southern town of Nova Kakhovka in the region Kherson. So far, there have been no reports of a surge in fighting there.
“As of March 22, 2023, all units of the occupation army stationed in the settlement of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region left the city,” said a statement by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
The Ministry of Defense also mentioned the looting of residents’ belongings by the Russians before leaving the city.
AFP has not verified the various claims put forward by the defense ministry and did not say Ukrainian soldiers had entered the settlement.
Most of the Kherson region fell to Russian forces at the start of the invasion launched last February, but Kyiv’s army retook control of the region’s capital last November.
Prior to their takeover, Russian forces had made a strategic withdrawal to the eastern bank of the Dnipro river that bisects the region.
Russia’s installed authority in the southern Kherson region said last November that administration officials had walked out of Nova Kakhovka.
The city is located near the massive Kakhovka hydroelectric dam, which was captured by the Russians early in the invasion as a strategic facility supplying Moscow-annexed Crimea.
Ukraine last year accused Russian troops of planning to blow it up to trigger devastating floods.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said early Thursday that he was in the region visiting civilians in areas recaptured by Ukrainian troops and meeting with officials to discuss demining and reconstruction.
(eva/eva)
