Ukrainian troops fight for their lives in new combat footage
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A Ukrainian attack to retake the city of Kherson could be imminent, Russian state media have suggested – as new footage shows Kiev’s troops fighting for their lives on the front lines.
Heartbreaking video captured in recent weeks on an uncharted battlefield shows Ukrainian soldiers opening fire on their Russian counterparts with rifles, machine guns and rocket launchers as they battle for control of a city.
The footage even shows a Ukrainian injured with blood pouring from his leg as one of his comrades rushes to apply a tourniquet to save his life.
While it’s unclear exactly where the video was shot, it emerged when Russian state media warned that the city of Kherson could soon be attacked.
Heartbreaking footage of a battlefield somewhere in Ukraine shows Kiev’s men attacking Russian troops with machine guns (left) and rifles (right)
The gritty footage also shows wounded Ukrainian troops – one of whom needs a tourniquet after being hit in the leg (left) and another is shown lying against a wall (right)
Today is the last day of the [civilian] evacuation,” a Russian official told a state television station on Tuesday.
“People who haven’t left realize the gravity of the situation and my warnings.”
Kherson has been at the center of Ukraine’s war effort for months, but Russian activity in the city has increased in recent weeks, raising hopes that Putin’s men may withdraw.
The Kremlin’s occupation administration has now withdrawn from the city across the Dnipro River and has downed a flag that flew over headquarters until last week.
Much of the Russian police have also fled, according to local sources, leaving those who remain free to loot and commit crimes.
The Kremlin troops also looted extensively, extracting the remains of Prince Grigory Potemkin from a local cathedral, along with busts of Soviet generals, a collection of zoo animals, museum artifacts and a children’s fairground train.
This has given the impression that Russian troops will not be able to occupy the city for much longer and can relinquish control to Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers are also shown clearing a building (left) and firing rocket launchers at Putin’s men as fierce fighting takes place across the country
Ukrainian troops fighting near the town of Bakmut, in eastern Donetsk oblast, fire a mortar shell at attacking Russian forces on Nov. 6.
A Ukrainian HIMARS system opens fire on Russian positions near the city of Kherson amid fierce fighting to retake the region from Putin’s men
However, Moscow is also moving reinforcements to Kherson, leading to conflicting reports about what exactly Putin’s commanders are up to.
Western officials, who informed journalists last week, said those reinforcements are actually conscripts designed to cover the withdrawal of Russian regular troops.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they have a “high” level of confidence that Russia plans to flee Kherson after deciding the city “isn’t worth defending”.
Putin’s men will retreat under the guise of evacuating civilians, she added, before taking up better defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, where they hope to survive the winter.
But the Ukrainian military said in a report released Monday that Russia could try to trap its troops in a deadly trap.
Removing Russian flags and dismantling checkpoints on roads around the city “could be a provocation” to lure Kiev’s troops into killing zones, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.
Russian troops dressed as civilians are actually still housed in houses in Kherson, strengthening them for street fighting, the general staff added.
Should Kherson fall, it would be a major propaganda victory for Kiev and the most humiliating loss to date for Putin’s forces.
The city is the only regional capital captured by Russian forces during this invasion, and the capital of a province Putin now claims as part of Russia.
Firefighters work at the site of a damaged residential building after Russian shelling in the liberated city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region
A damaged vehicle is seen on a road in Kherson Oblast as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its ninth month
It is also strategically important as it straddles the Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine and provides Russia with the only easy access to the western half of the country.
Should Kherson fall, it would make a Russian attack on the port city of Odessa – a key target for Putin’s generals – almost impossible.
It would also open the door for Ukraine to launch an offensive toward Crimea, which President Volodymyr Zelensky has suggested as the ultimate goal of the war.
Fierce fighting is also ongoing in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev troops are reportedly hard at work to take the city of Svatove, in the northern Luhansk Oblast.
Russia would flood newly enlisted men into the city in an attempt to hold the city, suffering heavy casualties.
Svatove is an important intermediate point on the road to Lysychansk and Severodonetsk, two cities that Russia spent an enormous amount of time, blood and resources over the summer to conquer. If they lost it, Putin’s claim that he controlled the Donbas would be negated.
In response to the slow but steady advance, Russian forces — led by Wagner mercenaries — have built a series of defensive trenches and tank traps in the region in recent weeks.
One line is believed to run north from the city of Luhansk, up through Lysychansk, and to the city of Bakmut, where fierce fighting has also taken place in recent weeks.
Reports have now come out that Russia has begun construction of a second set of defenses around Mariupol, in the south of the country.
The city lies deep behind Russian lines, but in recent weeks fears have grown that Ukraine could soon launch a third counter-attack in this region.
Western officials have also informed journalists that Russia is strengthening defensive positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River.