Ukrainian officer: Russian sabotage groups discovered in Kherson

The discovery and capture of 3 Russian sabotage groups in liberated Kherson was confirmed, an officer of the Ukrainian army, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Report.

"In Kherson, efforts are being made to capture sabotage groups. There are reports of the capture of several groups after the release of Kherson. But it is possible that Ukrainian intelligence has caught more groups, but information about this is not disclosed. The capture of 3 groups has been officially confirmed. There is also news that a certain group of Russian soldiers, who did not have the opportunity to cross the river in time, tried to leave the area in civilian clothes," he stressed.

According to him, the Russian troops left the city of Kherson without a fight and moved to the left bank of the Dnieper River. Now they have retreated to a distance of 10-15 km from the Dnieper in order not to be targeted by Ukrainian artillery strikes:

"The Ukrainian army has HIMARS rocket launcher systems at its disposal, distinguished by their high accuracy. In these realities, Russian troops are trying to strengthen themselves in the Melitopol settlement of the Zaporizhzhia region. In addition, a large number of Russian soldiers were brought to Mariupol. The Russians are trying to keep at least Mariupol and Melitopol."

Stating that approximately 60-70% of the Kherson region is still under occupation, the officer said that the right bank of the Dnieper River, including the city of Kherson, is the administrative center of the region, while the left bank of the river is more of an agricultural, wasteland, desert area:

"Although the territory is large, there is nothing to fortify, so the enemy tries to entrench in Melitopol. Without a supply base, it is impossible to strengthen in the near future in the desert area. Therefore, they are forced to retreat a bit. After the enemy left Kherson, we received reports of shelling of the suburbs. The lack of large-scale attacks is due to the Ukrainian army not giving them this opportunity. Because earlier, the Russians used artillery and S-300s. The presence of pressure from the Zaporizhzhia region, the right bank of the Dnieper River, and the use of HIMARS does not allow to strike hard of the enemy. They can only attack with highly accurate weapons, but these weapons are few in number and very expensive. Therefore, the successful counter-offensive operations of the Ukrainian army do not allow the enemy to move."

The soldier said that there are many cases of mines in schools and administrative facilities in the city:

"Small enterprises were mined in the Kherson region. However, since they did not have much time to retreat, mining was done in a very primitive way, and some can be seen with the naked eye. In the Chornobaivka settlement, the number of mines that are difficult to detect is higher. This is where their base is located, and they seem to have had a lot of time for this. They mined objects and equipment that they could not take with them. For this reason, demining activities are continued."