Is it a trap? Photos show Kherson administration building without Russian flag

Key points

• Photos show Kherson administration building without Russian flag flying over it.
• Ukraine warns of possible Russian trap to lure troops to advance before attacking them.
• Kherson port was only major city captured intact since invasion.
• There has been silence from Russian commanders over what would amount to one of its most humiliating retreats so far.

Kyiv: Speculation has swirled over whether Russia has pulled out of strategically important southern Ukrainian city Kherson, after photos circulated on the internet showing the main administrative building with Russia’s flag no longer flying atop it.

A Russian-installed occupation official in southern Ukraine said on Thursday Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River, signalling a huge retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war.

Russian army soldiers stand next to their trucks in Kherson, Ukraine in March.Credit:AP

Still, Ukrainian officials and Western analysts remained cautious about signs that Russia was abandoning the area, and there was silence from higher-ups in Moscow over what would amount to one of Russia’s most humiliating retreats so far.

Ukraine said the images of main administrative building could be Russian disinformation.

Kyiv said it was still fighting in the area and was wary that Moscow could be setting a trap by feigning a pull-out.

“Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left (eastern) bank,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.

The area includes Kherson city, capital of the region of the same name, and the only major city Russia has captured intact since its invasion in February. It also includes one side of a huge dam across the Dnipro which controls the water supply to irrigate Crimea, the peninsula Russia has occupied since 2014.

Previously, Russia had vehemently denied its forces were planning to withdraw from the area, one of the most important new conquests which President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed to Russia at the end of September.

Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, said it could be a Russian trap.

“This could be a manifestation of a particular provocation, in order to create the impression that the settlements are abandoned, that it is safe to enter them, while they are preparing for street battles,” she said in televised comments.

Russian soldiers guard an area as a group of foreign journalists visit in Kherson, Kherson region, south Ukraine.Credit:AP

“We continue fighting, also in the Kherson direction, despite the fact that the enemy is trying to convince us that they are leaving the settlements and creating the effect of a total evacuation,” she said.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he believed Ukrainian forces could retake Kherson, in perhaps his most optimistic comments on the pivotal campaign to date.

Russia has fought for months to hang on to the pocket of land it holds on the west bank at the mouth of the river that bisects Ukraine. Moscow had sent tens of thousands of troops to reinforce the area, one of its biggest battlefield priorities.

Ukraine has attacked the main river crossings for months, making it difficult for Russia to supply its huge force on the west bank. Ukrainian troops have been advancing along the river since bursting through the Russian frontline there at the start of October, although their advance had slowed in recent days.

Russia had ordered civilians to evacuate from occupied areas on the west bank, and this week also ordered them out of a 15 km buffer zone on the east bank as well. Kyiv says those evacuation orders amount to forced deportation, a war crime.

Stremousov urged civilians remaining in Kherson city to leave immediately, saying they were putting their lives in danger.

Ukraine maintains tight secrecy about the progress of its troops at the front in Kherson but has so far been publicly cautious about any suggestions that Russia is vacating positions there. Ukrainian troops on the front line last week, visited by Reuters, said they saw no evidence Russian forces were withdrawing and believed they were in fact reinforcing.

Michael Kofman, a top US expert on the Russian military who has just returned from the Ukrainian side of the Kherson front, said Moscow’s intentions were unclear.

He doubted Russia would abandon the west bank of the river “without being forcibly pressed out”, but he also “could be wrong about this”.

“The situation in Kherson is clear as mud,” tweeted Kofman, director of Russia studies at the Centre for Naval Analyses think tank.

“Russian forces seemed to withdraw from some parts, evacuated, and drew down, but also reinforced with mobilised personnel. The fighting there is difficult. Despite constrained supply, Russian forces do not appear to be out of ammo.”

The European Union’s top diplomat said international partners had a moral duty to continue to support Ukraine in its fight against the invasion during the winter months.

Local residents walk in Kherson in May.Credit:AP

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on the sidelines of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the German town of Muenster that Putin was resorting to attacks on the civil infrastructure because of setbacks on the battlefield.

“Putin’s Russia is destroying Ukraine. They cannot occupy it, they cannot win on the battlefield, they cannot win the war – and they are destroying the country systematically,” the diplomat told reporters.

Reuters

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