by Jonathan Landay
ON THE FRONTLINE NORTH OF KHERSON, Ukraine (Reuters) – Ukrainian soldiers deployed north of the occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine believe Russian forces may abandon their positions and withdraw beyond the Dnieper.
Russian soldiers reportedly suffered human and material losses, and encountered supply problems, according to statements made by Ukrainian soldiers to Reuters on Friday.
“They have little ammunition, few men and their equipment is defective,” the commander of the 600-man unit deployed in Mikolaiv province, bordering the Kherson region, told Reuters.
The Russians “are constantly taking losses in this sector, and we are doing everything we can to get them out of it as quickly as possible”, continues this former agricultural business owner from around Lviv, known as war of “Fougas”.
The Russian army has retreated 20 to 30 km in recent weeks in the Kherson sector and it risks being cornered on the right, or western, bank of the Dnieper River.
The Russians captured Kherson unopposed in the early days of the invasion of Ukraine, launched on February 24. Kherson remains the only major Ukrainian city that the Russian army took without major destruction.
The situation on the portion of the front line that Reuters was able to visit on Friday was relatively calm.
The sound of shell explosions sometimes echoed in the fields. Partridges and herons moved around villages devastated by the bombardments.
The Ukrainian soldiers were deployed in a dug trench behind a row of trees delimiting fields, a difficult terrain for the Russian troops to defend against well-equipped and determined Ukrainian soldiers.
The Russians “have been shooting less and less for about three weeks,” says Myhaïlo, 42, who, like the other soldiers, did not wish to give his last name. “Their drones are also less active.”
“It must have been about a month since the bombings have been less numerous,” agrees Sasha, 19. “It’s got to end at some point. Their ammunition can’t last forever.”
The soldiers said they would not let the Russian forces withdraw without a fight.
“We won’t help them,” said Myhailo, from the Lviv region. “Do they think they can come here and leave any way they want? You can’t walk into someone’s house and just walk out.”
(Report Jonathan Landay; French version Camille Raynaud)