Moscow’s Defense Ministry on Wednesday afternoon presented Russia’s first official response to the collapse of large segments of the Antoniv Bridge over the Dnipro River, saying that all Russian troops and equipment had been evacuated from the abandoned area in Kherson.
“Today at 05:00 a.m. Moscow time, the transfer of units of Russian troops to the left bank of the Dnieper was completed in the Kherson area,” said the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, during the daily briefing. Defense, TASS cites.
“There is not even a single piece of military equipment or weapons left on the right bank. The loss of personnel, weapons, military equipment and material resources of the Russian group of troops is not allowed,” he added, stressing that all Russian servicemen forced the left bank of the Dnieper.
“Evacuation assistance was provided to civilians who wanted to leave the right bank of the Kherson region. The units and military units of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation occupied defensive lines and positions prepared in advance from an engineering point of view,” the Russian general noted.
The photographs allegedly show that the Antoniv bridge was blown up by the Russians
Photos and video footage emerging of the destroyed Antonovsky Bridge appear to indicate that it was blown up by Russian engineers as part of a withdrawal ordered by the Russian Defense Ministry on Wednesday.
Much of the north end of the bridge had completely collapsed, the most likely explanation for this being that it had been detonated by explosive charges planted by engineers.
They also appeared about an hour before Konashenkov’s daily briefing, which could mean the Russians deliberately blew it up earlier.
Despite the statements of the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, over the past two days, several videos have appeared on social networks showing equipment left behind by the Russian military during a hasty evacuation.
A lot of destroyed Russian equipment remains. It seems that this is the crossing of Dudchana and the surrounding area. pic.twitter.com/I7lVzyUAMX
— Dmitry (@wartranslated) November 9, 2022
Also, numerous reports appeared in Russian Telegram channels that the withdrawal of troops from the western bank of the Dnieper turned into panic and chaos against the background of thousands of soldiers who are there.
Ukraine has yet to comment on Friday’s announcement of Russia’s withdrawal, instead recalling “operational silence” regarding military action.
Photos that appeared on social networks early Friday show the Ukrainian flag being raised in the center of Kherson, the capital of the region, but according to preliminary information, it was placed by Ukrainians and not by the Kyiv armed forces.
The city of Kherson was the only regional capital of Ukraine that the Russian armed forces managed to capture after the start of Vladimir Putin’s “special operation” on February 24.
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