(November 11, 2022 at 12:52 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:Quote:BLAHODATNE, Ukraine, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Ukrainian troops were greeted by joyous residents in the centre of Kherson on Friday after Russia abandoned the only regional capital it had captured since its invasion in February.
Russia said it had withdrawn 30,000 troops across the Dnipro River without losing a single soldier, but Ukrainians painted a picture of a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops ditching their uniforms, abandoning weapons and drowning while trying to flee.
Video footage verified by Reuters showed dozens of Ukrainians cheering and chanting victory slogans in Kherson's central square, where the apparent first Ukrainian troops to arrive snapped selfies in the crowd.
Two men lifted a female soldier on their shoulders and tossed her into the air. Some residents wrapped themselves in Ukrainian flags. One man was weeping with joy.
Ukraine's defence intelligence agency said Kherson was returning to Ukrainian control and ordered any remaining Russian troops to surrender to Ukrainian forces entering the city.
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-...022-11-06/
As usual, both sides are reporting quite different things. Regarding the Russian claim that not one soldier was lost in the retreat, the Ukrainians were putting on these sorts of barrages during the evacuation:
I'd hate to be on the receiving end of that. Note also that later in that video, a column of Russian troops are shown crossing east in decent order over the Dneipr.
Russians still have their artillery on the other side of the Dnipro River. So they are still able to make another Aleppo or Mariupol out of Kherson and cause heavy causalities to the Ukrainians.
Also I had heard last week a prominent military personality saying that the taking of Kherson would be a matter of several weeks (not one or two but several weeks). And that the best strategy of Ukrainians would be to encircle the city and wait for the next move by Russians.
Also, The Russians cannot engage into street to street combat with the Ukrainians. I don’t think they have enough determination for this type of combat.
So let’s just wait and see
