Information is beginning to spread in Russian Telegram channels that Vladimir Putin’s troops, during their retreat from the western bank of the Dnieper in the Kherson region, have panicked, and the situation is threatening to turn into chaos.

This situation was reported by several observers of the war in Ukraine, who monitor discussions in Telegram channels, which have hundreds of thousands of subscribers in Russia, which is the preferred communication channel for both Russian officials and major news agencies and military bloggers.

Dmytro, the founder of the War Translated site, notes that everything started to develop so quickly that if you don’t go to your computer or phone for half a day, you don’t even know where to start reading all the news.

One such Russian Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation refers to eyewitnesses who claim that the Ukrainian armed forces have already entered the main road leading to the city of Kherson, the capital of the region of the same name.

The Ukrainian army bombards the retreating Russians

The same Telegram channel “MIG” declares that the Antoniv bridge was “finished”, allegedly referring to the fact that this key bridge over the Dnipro was destroyed. Another Russian Telegram channel, Voenkor Kotenok, published the same message. However, neither Ukrainian nor Russian state media confirmed the fact of the bridge’s destruction.

Some may have confused the Antoniv bridge with the railway bridge over the Dnieper, which seems to have been blown up by Russian engineers.

It turned out that the railway bridge was completely destroyed by the explosion.

Russian blogger Dimitriev cites sources that claim panic has broken out among Moscow’s troops.

“It is impossible to move [Niprul] calm down, the Ukrainian armed forces continue to strike at roadblocks, there were no agreements [de încetare a focului]. A military disaster is smoldering,” he says.

According to him, this information does not come from public channels, but from “people I know personally.”

“Besides, it seems panic has started [joi] noon. It is reported that anarchy reigns on the left bank, abandoned equipment and abandoned stations,” he says.

A new video, which appeared on social networks and was allegedly filmed in Kherson, shows a massive shelling by the Ukrainian armed forces of the retreating Russian army.

Information about panic among the Russian military in Kherson

We will remind you that on Thursday morning, the first video recordings of the departure of the Russians from Kherson began to appear, which indicate that it is proceeding in an orderly manner. Despite the fact that in the pictures it was possible to see numerous military equipment abandoned by Russian soldiers, they turned out to be on the western bank of the Dnieper, and not on the eastern one, where the retreat is taking place.

One of the Russian soldiers in the area published a video message in which he refutes the optimistic statements of people that the Russians will return to the city of Kherson. He says he was asked to make the video to calm people down.

“But I think if I do a live broadcast, people will start having heart problems like I have,” says the Russian military.

“If we continue to fight like this, and this is exactly what is happening, we will lose Crimea. Then, I tell you, if anyone thinks we have amphibious vehicles, we’ll give them a present [blindatul] our BTR-80, which can dive into the water once and not surface. This will be his last dive,” says the Russian soldier.

In a post last night at 12:35 p.m., Jimmy Rushton, a security analyst in Kyiv, said that “there is every indication that Russia’s retreat from the west bank of the Dnieper has turned into a run. But we will know for sure only in the morning.”

Mike Martin, another observer of the war in Ukraine and a researcher in the war department at Imperial College London, said last night that “it looks like the Russians messed up the withdrawal.”

“They had to announce it because they were leaving the territory they had previously annexed (and claimed it was Russian territory). But apparently they didn’t tell their groups either. And as you know, retreat is the most difficult military maneuver. It’s much more difficult to announce it in advance,” he also notes in a series of posts on his Twitter page.

“So now we have a situation where Russian troops are blocking checkpoints, and Ukrainians are firing at them. I can’t get out fast enough,” Martin adds.

Ukraine recaptured 41 settlements on the west bank of the Dnieper

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in an address to the people on Thursday night, said that Kyiv’s troops had liberated 41 settlements in the south of the country.

“Today there is good news from the south. The number of Ukrainian flags that are being returned to their place as part of the ongoing defense operation is already counted in dozens. 41 settlements were liberated. We thank all our heroes,” he said.

“The enemy is not leaving. It is the Ukrainians who drive out the occupiers at great cost, both in the east of our country, in the Kharkiv region, and, as once in the north, in the Kyiv, Sumy, Chernihiv regions, and now in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. regions,” he added. he.

“We have to go all the way – both on the battlefield and in diplomacy – so that our entire land, along our internationally recognized border, has our flags, the flags of Ukraine. And never a single enemy tricolor,” he emphasized.

The map shows the territories liberated by Ukrainians on the west bank of the Dnipro during the last day.

Commenting on the situation, General Mark Hertling, the former commander of the US forces in Europe in 2011-2012, recalls that almost two months ago he spoke in an interview with CNN about the possibility of forming an encirclement of the “Falaise Pocket”, one of the more famous in the Second World War , in Kherson.

“Reports from Ukraine indicate that this is happening. If Russia has not prepared for this and thousands of soldiers will be killed/captured, [situația] strengthens the known incompetence of the Russian military,” he says.

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