After the restoration of Kherson… Ukraine is preparing for Russian attacks

With Ukrainian forces entering the main city of Kherson in the south of the country after the completion of the Russian withdrawal from it, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, confirmed that his country hasn’t yet used its full arsenal.

Medvedev added – in a post on the Telegram platform today, Saturday – that Russia “didn’t bomb all possible enemy targets,” and said that “everything is on time”.

The senior Russian official believed that Russia is building an “equal world order” for the future, and that it is struggling alone against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the West.

Apparently referring to the developments in Kherson, Medvedev said that it is Russia that protects its citizens and that it restores Russian lands and not vice versa, reiterating Moscow’s position that Kherson, Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporozhye provinces are within Russia’s territory.

For his part, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force warned of possible Russian missile and air attacks on large areas of the country.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian General Intelligence Department announced the return of Kherson to the control of Ukraine, and said in a statement that units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and reconnaissance battalions had entered the city.

In its statement, the Intelligence Department called on the remaining Russians in the city to surrender.

Pictures from inside the city of Kherson showed the Ukrainian flags hoisted on government buildings in the city.

Ukrainian military sources also stated, that the entire Mykolaiv countryside had been under control, and that the reconnaissance battalions were advancing cautiously towards Chorna Bayvka Airport, near the city of Kherson.

The Ukrainian national anthem was played in Kherson after the withdrawal of Russian forces, Friday, from the city, and Kherson was the first city to fall at the beginning of the Russian war on Ukraine last February.

On the other hand, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Operations Command Natalia Homenyuk said that her country’s forces discovered Russian tanks, artillery and other equipment in the lands retaken in the south after the Russians failed to cross the Dnipro River during the withdrawal.

Hominyuk added that the equipment there was left in a mess, and that the Ukrainian army was collecting what it needed to use it in the counterattack.

Hominiuk also confirmed that the Russians planted large areas of the land they left with mines, so returning to the liberated lands is still fraught with dangers, as she put it.

Satellite images showed damage to a number of bridges in the Kherson region.

The photos show the damage to the Antonovsky Bridge on the Dnipro River, a railway bridge after the withdrawal of Russian forces to the eastern bank of the river, in addition to the damage to the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station.

For its part, the pro-Russian authorities in Kherson Province announced that the city of Geneshesk would be the temporary capital in the province, instead of the city of Kherson, from which the Russian army withdrew on Friday.

Geneshesk is one of the largest cities in Kherson Province, located to the south on the Sea of ​​Azov, about 200 km from Kherson, the capital.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin said that the decision to withdraw from Kherson was taken in the corridors of the Russian Defense Ministry, stressing in a statement that there has been no change in Moscow’s position regarding Kherson Province as part of Russian territory.

The Russian army announced the withdrawal of more than 30 thousand Russian soldiers from the Kherson region, leaving the western bank of the Dnipro River to deploy on its eastern bank.

In a statement, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that “more than 30,000 Russian soldiers and about 5,000 armament units and military vehicles have been withdrawn” from the western bank of the river.

Meanwhile, the eastern front in Ukraine is witnessing successive field developments, as the Ukrainian and Russian forces exchanged declarations of repelling attacks in several axes.

In Donetsk Province, the Ukrainian General Staff stated that it had repelled 8 attempts to advance Russian forces on the fighting axes, including the Pervomaisk axis.

On the other hand, the pro-Russian separatists said that they are continuing to advance on the axis of Donetsk International Airport, and that they are on the verge of seizing the town of Pervomaisk in the northwest of the province.

In Lugansk, the Ukrainian governor of the province said that Ukrainian forces have regained control of 11 towns since last September, and that they are still advancing, but slowly, because of mines planted by Russian forces.