Vladimir Putin facing defeat in occupied Ukraine city of Kherson

The first major Ukrainian city claimed in Putin’s invasion could change hands in a counteroffensive that appears to have commanders worried.

What was the first major Ukrainian city taken by Russia after Vladimir Putin’s invasion could be reclaimed, as Russian forces appear to retreat from the strategic port city of Kherson.

Russian air force general, Sergei Surovikin described the fight for the city as “very difficult,” as Ukraine launches an offensive to reclaim the invaded areas.

“The enemy is not abandoning its attempts to attack Russian troop positions,” he said on Russian state TV via Aljazeera.

“The situation in the area of the ‘special military operation’ can be described as tense.”

Maxar satellite image taken of the destroyed the tarmac at Kherson Airfield in Kherson, Ukraine. Picture: 2022 Maxar Technologies/ AFP.

According to Reuters, Ukraine’s offensive have driven Russian forces nearly 20km to 30km in recent weeks,

As of Wednesday, Russian officials had also begun evacuating around 60,000 civilians, with Ukrainian citizens urged to flee to Russia. Quoting Ukrainian officials, CNN reports less than half of Kherson’s original 130,000 civilian population has continued to live in the area.

According to US organisation, Understanding War, Ukrainian civilians are being incentivised to “flee to Russia as Ukrainian forces advance”.

“Occupation authorities may increasingly force Ukrainian civilians to relocate further behind the front lines or to Russia in the coming days,” they warned.

On social media however, people have attributed the move as a plan to pre-emptively use Ukrainian citizens as a “human shield” if troops are forced to evacuated the area.

“It is very likely that if/when the Russian military withdraws Kherson, it will be using the human shield of civilians it will also be forcibly ‘evacuating’ across the Dnipro,” wrote prominent Ukrainian defence reporter, Illia Ponomarenko.

“This would be a grave violation (unsurprisingly) that would nonetheless prevent Ukrainian attacks.”

It is very likely that if/when the Russian military withdraws Kherson, it will be using the human shield of civilians it will also be forcibly “evacuating” across the Dnipro.
This would be a grave violation (unsurprisingly) that would nonetheless prevent Ukrainian attacks.

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) October 19, 2022

Kherson – a key strategic city

The importance of Kherson as a strategic war prize has been consistently recognised in the Ukraine invasion.

In September, after Ukrainian forces began their counteroffensive into recapturing claimed land, Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelensky told Russian forces to “run away” and “go home”.

Strategically, the area allows access to the Ukrainian southern coast and Black Sea and is a marker between the country’s east and west.

Quoting analysts, TIME also states that recapturing the city would give Ukrainian defender’s strengthened access to west Ukraine, and position them for future offensives.

As Battle of Kherson is now under way, here are two maps, to show peak of Russian invasion, when Russian forces controlled 30% of Ukrainian territory at end of March, and now, at 6 month point, when Ukraine has pushed Russians back so much, Russia only holds 20%#SlavaUkrainipic.twitter.com/cCqCFiZJD8

— Tomi T Ahonen Standing With Ukraine (@tomiahonen) September 2, 2022

Putin declares martial law

This comes as Mr Putin declared martial law in four locations in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The new declaration gives the Russian military strengthened powers under the guise of maintaining social order and protecting infrastructure.

Under these rules, Russian officials will be able to exact curfews, limit movement, and have more control over censorship and the interning of foreign citizens.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared martial law in the four Russian-occupied Ukraine areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Picture: Alexander Nemenov/ AFP.

Announcing the rule change during a televised National Security Council meeting, he backed his action as a way to “formalise” the Russian regime “framework of Russian legislation”.

“I signed a decree to introduce martial law in these four subjects of the Russian Federation,” said Mr Putin.

“The Kyiv regime refused to recognise the will of the people, rejects any proposals for negotiation, gunfire continues, civilians are dying.”

Originally published as Vladimir Putin facing defeat in occupied Ukraine city of Kherson