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Kyiv forces have retaken more than 40 towns and villages in southern Ukraine, President Zelensky said on Thursday, as Moscow said its troops had begun to withdraw from the strategic city of Kherson.
At the same time, the United States announced a new $400 million security assistance package for Kyiv, which will include defense systems and surface-to-air missiles, as Ukraine recently struggled with massive Russian airstrikes targeting critical infrastructure.
“Today we have good news from the South,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation. “The number of Ukrainian flags has reached dozens as part of an ongoing defensive operation.”
Zelensky said 41 settlements had been “liberated” from Russian occupation.
Moscow said it had made a “difficult decision” to withdraw troops from Kherson, and the Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that its troops were maneuvering in the area.
For weeks, Ukrainian troops have been occupying villages heading for the city of Kherson in the eponymous region, and Kremlin-appointed leaders have been evacuating civilians in what it called an illegal eviction operation in Kyiv.
The retreat would be a major setback for Russia in areas Vladimir Putin has claimed annexed, but officials in Kyiv remain wary, saying Russia is unlikely to retreat without a fight.
– Battlefield… and diplomacy? –
Zelensky, who has been facing demands from Western countries to resume peace talks with Russia, hinted in his speech that if Ukraine regains all its territory, the possibility of negotiations is not ruled out.
“We have to go all the way on the battlefield, through diplomacy, in order to install our flag — the Ukrainian flag — on our soil, along our entire internationally recognized border,” Zelensky said.
He also thanked U.S. President Joe Biden and the American people for their air defenses.
“Together we are building an air shield to protect civilians,” Zelensky said on Twitter. “We are bringing victory over aggressors closer!”
US media recently reported that the Biden administration has been urging Zelensky to publicly announce his willingness to talk to Russia.
On Wednesday, top U.S. general Mark Milley said a military victory in the war may not be possible.
“There is an opportunity here, a window of opportunity for negotiation,” he said.
– “Can you believe what they say?” –
On the battlefield, in the southern city of Nikolayev, which Russian troops have been attacking with artillery and missiles for months, few believed the Russians would retreat.
“How can you believe what they say?” asked driver Volodymyr Vypritskiy, 55. “How can you trust people who keep telling us they’re our brothers? People who start killing their brothers – can you really trust them?”
Zelensky suggested that Russia may be camouflaging its strategy rather than experiencing a major setback.
Military officials in Kyiv reiterated that caution on Thursday.
“At the moment, we cannot confirm or deny information about the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson,” said Oleksi Gromov of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Russia, which has lost its Kherson region, will return Ukraine’s vital access to the Sea of ​​Azov, leaving Putin with little to show in a campaign that has made him a pariah in the eyes of the West.
The retreat would put pressure on Russia’s control of the rest of the Kherson region, which forms a land bridge from Russia to Crimea, a peninsula that Moscow annexed in 2014.
– Mass casualties –
Kherson is one of four Ukrainian regions Russia announced in September to annex, shortly after Russia was forced to withdraw from large swathes of territory in northeastern Kharkiv.
The United States estimated more than 100,000 Russian military personnel were killed or wounded in Ukraine this week.
According to General Milley, troops in Kyiv may have suffered similar casualties.
Russia has been trying to capture the eastern Donbas city of Bakhmut, a battered town known for its wine and salt mines, which has come under heavy artillery fire for weeks.
“The last three days have become more difficult. There are more and more Russians. But our children are holding on to their posts,” Vitaliy, a 26-year-old soldier, told AFP in Bakhmut.
Despite fighting over the past four months, about half of the 70,000 people living in the city have stayed, mostly in the city’s east.
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