The Russian army in Kherson in southern Ukraine prepares to defend the occupied regional capital. Although the Russian military leadership has left Kherson, new defense units are being brought there, according to Ukrainian military intelligence. The administration deployed by Russia forms a local militia and is calling for volunteers to volunteer.
“All men who have voluntarily remained in Kherson have the opportunity to join the territorial defense,” the government said on its Telegram channel on Monday. Civilians are still being urged to evacuate the region as Ukrainian troops advance in the south of the country.
“Deduction is illusion”
The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, does not expect Russian troops to withdraw. “The Russian occupiers only create the illusion that they are leaving Kherson, but in fact they are bringing new military units there,” he told the Ukrayinska Pravda portal in Kiev on Monday. Russia had previously reported that the occupation administration and Russian banks were withdrawing from the city and hospitals were being evacuated. Budanov sees it more as a diversionary manoeuvre. He said the newly arrived troops will ensure they have an open route back across the Dnipro River in the event of a Ukrainian advance.
In the war of aggression that has now been going on for exactly eight months, Kherson is the only regional capital of Ukraine to fall into Russian hands. Moscow has declared that the city and the administrative region have been annexed to Russia. For weeks, however, the Ukrainian army has been pushing further and further into the Russian bridgehead on the northwestern bank of the Dnipro.
In recent weeks, the situation of Russian troops in the Kherson region has deteriorated significantly – especially on the right bank of the Dnipro, where the city of Kherson is located. The supply has almost come to a halt due to the Ukrainian shelling of the bridges. During an offensive in early October, the Ukrainians managed to capture significant territory. Under these circumstances, the military administration says it has already expelled 25,000 civilians from the region.
Secret Service: Dam blast barely slows down
If the Kakhovka dam were blown up, Russia would cause an environmental disaster. According to the Ukrainian secret service, such a drastic step would only slightly slow the advance of Ukrainian troops in the south. The areas occupied by Russia would be flooded, Kyrylo Budanov, the head of military intelligence, told Ukrainska Pravda newspaper. In addition, the dam blast would have lost a vital channel for the annexed peninsula. But that would only complicate the advance of the Kiev army ‘for about two weeks’.
Meanwhile, according to British sources, Russia continues to use Iranian drones in airstrikes in Ukraine. Russia is likely using these Shahed-136 drones to evade Ukraine’s air defenses and as replacements for Russian precision missiles, whose stocks are shrinking, the Defense Ministry in London said on Twitter. However, Ukraine was successful in defending against the drones.
273 drones shot down so far
The drones are slow, noisy and deployed at low altitudes, making them quite easy to shoot down, it said. According to official Ukrainian figures, up to 85 percent of attacks are intercepted. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 273 Iranian drones have been shot down since mid-September.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
