Russia said it had completed the withdrawal of its forces from Kherson in southern Ukraine to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River adjacent to the city, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the entry of his country’s forces into Kherson as a historic day.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had transferred more than 30,000 soldiers and 5,000 units of weapons and equipment from Kherson to the east bank of the Dnipro River.
The ministry indicated that its forces shelled gatherings of Ukrainian forces on the right bank of the river.
Commenting on the Russian withdrawal from Kherson, the Kremlin said that the position on Kherson’s status as part of Russia has not changed, referring to Russia’s decision last October to annex Kherson province to the Russian Federation, together with Zaporizhia provinces. , Donetsk and Luhansk, all located in southeast Ukraine.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian president announced the restoration of the city, describing this day as historic, and Zelensky added that the special units of the Ukrainian army are currently inside the city of Kherson, explaining that the people of Kherson are currently purifying the city of what it described as Russian symbols and any traces of the occupants.
An invitation to surrender
The Ukrainian president has called on Russian soldiers remaining in the southern regions of Ukraine to surrender.
Ukraine’s General Intelligence Department said in a statement that Kherson had returned to Ukrainian control, adding that units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and reconnaissance battalions had entered the city and called on any Russians remaining in the city to surrender.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a tweet on his Twitter account that “Ukraine is writing another major victory right now, showing that whatever Russia says or does, Ukraine will win.”
Images from within the city of Kherson showed flags hoisted on the city’s regional administration building, while other images broadcast by local pages showed Ukrainian flags hoisted in the Belazork region on the northern outskirts of Kherson.
Satellite images have shown damage to a number of bridges in the Kherson region.
The images showed damage to the Antonovsky bridge over the Dnipro River, as well as the Antonovsky railway bridge, after the withdrawal of Russian forces to the left bank of the Dnipro River. The images also showed severe damage to the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station dam.
Retreat celebration
Scenes showed the people of Kherson celebrating the Russian withdrawal at night despite the power outage, and the city’s residents gathered around fires which they lit, danced and sang in the name of the Ukrainian forces.
This is what a true liberation military force looks like pic.twitter.com/z0wzObfKWP
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) November 11, 2022
Dozens of Kherson residents also gathered on Maidan Square in the center of the capital, Kiev, on Friday evening to celebrate the Ukrainian army’s restoration of the city of Kherson, which has been under Russian control for 9 months.
On Friday, Ukrainian military sources told Al-Jazeera that the entire Mykolaiv countryside was under control and reconnaissance battalions were advancing cautiously towards the “Chorna Baevka” airport near the city of Kherson.
Before Kyiv announced the entry of its forces into Kherson, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said that Russian forces would need at least a week to withdraw from the city and that this could not happen within a day or two.
Breathtaking
Reznikov explained that the winter season will slow down military operations and give both sides a chance to breathe, as he said. The Ukrainian military official added that there are around 40,000 Russian servicemen across Kherson province.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Kherson’s return to Ukraine was “an important step on the way to fully restoring its sovereign rights,” emphasizing Paris’ continued support for Ukrainians.
The Russian army’s withdrawal from Kherson is the third in size since the war against Ukraine began on February 24, as Russia was forced to withdraw in the spring in an attempt to control Kiev in the face of fierce resistance from the Ukrainians , before he was almost completely expelled from the Kharkiv region last September.
Kharkiv plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday that an examination of a research facility in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine found it had been badly damaged, but there were no indications of the emission of radiation or the transfer of nuclear material.
International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi said in a statement that a team from the agency visited the Kharkiv Institute of Technology November 8-10, after Ukraine said last June that Russia had bombed the facility.
“Although radiation levels were normal, the extent of the damage to the nuclear research facility is serious and shocking, and even worse than expected,” Grossi added.
