Two images from occupied Ukraine were widely shared on social media on Thursday: photos of Kherson City Hall, where the Russian flag no longer flies. And an indistinct video, recorded from a city bus, which allegedly shows Ukrainians rejoicing that the Russian check-points have suddenly been abandoned. The Ukrainian Center Against Disinformation warns against deception.
A local administrator who collaborated with the Russians, Kirill Stremooesov, stated in a video message on Thursday that the Russians will withdraw to the left bank of the Dnieper, south of the city. That would mean that the Russian forces will soon leave the city.
But the Ukrainian Center Against Disinformation warns for these reports: “The ongoing propaganda about surrendering the city resembles information sabotage designed to mislead Ukraine’s military leadership.”
What is going on is still unclear. “The situation in Kherson is clear as mud,” writes Michael Kofman, the director of Russia studies at the think tank CNA. Twitter. From Moscow, nothing has yet been announced about a possible withdrawal. At the end of October, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that Russia was giving the impression of withdrawing from Kherson, even though it had been calling in reinforcements.
“They may want to give the impression that it is safe to enter the city,” Natalya Humenyuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces of Southern Ukraine, told Ukrainian television. “We are aware of this tactic because they have been preparing for street fights in the city for a long time.” As one of the possible tactics, Hoemenyuk mentions that Russian soldiers in civilian clothes have withdrawn into homes, and therefore would no longer be seen on the street.
A sign that the Russian occupiers are indeed preparing for a departure from Kherson is that on Tuesday a report was made of the looting of an art museum in the city. There are also said to be valuable documents from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from the city archives brought. Ukrainian police opened an investigation into the Affairs.
In his video message, collaborator Stremooesov also says that residents on the left bank of the Dnieper must evacuate up to 15 kilometers from the river. In October, the Ukrainian government reported that Russia had installed explosives at the dam near the city of Nova Kachovka. This could blow up the dam, causing the Dnieper to overflow its banks. This would make it more difficult for Ukraine to continue the liberation offensive further south. It would also endanger the lives of residents in the river basin. The US Institute for the Study of War warned that such an action could be used by Moscow to divert attention from the loss of the first city Russia captured at the start of the war.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of November 4, 2022