Nfter the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kherson, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi reported on “atrocities” committed by soldiers in the region. “The bodies of those who were killed were found: civilians and soldiers,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video message on Sunday evening. In the Kherson region, the Russian army committed “the same atrocities” as in other parts of our country that it was able to penetrate.
The Ukrainian head of state announced that “every murderer” would be “found and brought to justice”. 400 Russian “war crimes” have been documented, he added. He did not say whether this figure referred solely to the Cherson region.
Around nine months after the start of the war, Moscow had ordered the withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Cherson and the north of the region of the same name in view of the progress of the Ukrainian counter-offensive. On Friday, the Russian army completely evacuated the regional capital.
The withdrawal represented a bitter defeat for Russia. Cherson was the only regional capital that the Russian troops had captured. For Moscow, the region is also of great strategic importance in order to be able to continue the offensive in the direction of Mykolaiv and the Black Sea port of Odessa.