The first official Ukrainian claim of a Russian withdrawal on what is currently the major frontline in the south alleged that Russia had evacuated some troops from settlements on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Kherson city.
In Kherson, where power had just started to be restored nearly three weeks after Russian soldiers vacated the city and fled across the river, Ukrainian officials also emphasized that Russia had increased firing across the river. The river now makes up the whole southern portion of the front after Russia abandoned Kherson last month, nine months into its invasion of Ukraine, according to Reuters. It implied that Moscow’s best-trained professional forces had already left because the majority of Russian troops in the region were recently mobilized, reservists. Reuters was unable to independently verify the claim.
