KIEV, Dec 1 (Reuters) – The Ukrainian military said on December 1 that Russia had withdrawn some troops from the town of Kherson across the Dnipro river. South.
The statement contains limited details and does not mention Ukrainian forces crossing the Dnipro. Ukrainian officials also stressed that Russia stepped up artillery fire across the river and cut the power again in Kherson, almost three weeks after Russian troops cleared the city and fled across the river. recovery has begun.
The river now forms the entire southern side of the front since he left Kherson nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine last month.
Russia has already ordered civilians to evacuate towns within 15 km of the river and has withdrawn civil rule from the riverside town of Nova Kachovska. Ukrainian officials had previously said Russia had withdrawn artillery near the river to a safer location but had so far stopped saying Russian troops had left the town.
Separately, Ukraine stepped up security for diplomatic missions around the world on Thursday after a mail bomb exploded at its embassy in Madrid. This is one of several devices sent to destinations in Spain, including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
Ambassador Serhii Pohoreltsev told Ukrainian news site European Pravda that a suspected package addressed to him was opened outside the building by the commander of the Ukrainian embassy who was injured in the explosion.
After withdrawing south in November, Moscow concentrated its firepower on the front line to the east near the town of Bakhmut, where hundreds of soldiers were killed each day in some of the bloodiest battles of the conflict. Considered dead, with few fruitful reports. Territory acquisition by both sides.
Ukrainian forces reported heavy shelling of a number of frontline towns in the region. Denis Pushirin, head of the Russian-installed regime in the occupied territories of Donetsk province, said a prisoner exchange would take place later on Thursday, with both sides releasing 50 prisoners.
There have been no political negotiations to end the war that Russia started as a “military special operation”, the goal being to disarm its neighbours and eradicate leaders it sees as dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and the West have called this an imperialist land grab, killing tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers on both sides.
Almost every week since early October, Russia has launched massive rocket and drone strikes across Ukraine, cutting off electricity, water and heat, and leaving Kyiv and the West to harm civilians. It claims it was intended to add, which is a war crime.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov defended these attacks on Thursday, saying Moscow was targeting Ukrainian civilian infrastructure to prevent Kyiv from importing Western weapons. He did not explain how such an attack could achieve this goal.
The European Union (EU) this week called for the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials accused of aggression, a war crime of attacking another country without justification. The Kremlin denied this on Thursday.
Ukraine’s nuclear power plant said on Thursday it had fired a senior engineer at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, citing cooperation with Russia. It was a day after Moscow announced that engineer Yuri Chernychuk had been promoted to the new director of the power plant.
In October, Russia announced that it controlled a factory located on Russian territory along the Dnipro River but still run by Ukrainian engineers. Kyiv says the facility is still owned by Ukraine and that its seizure by Russia is illegal.
