Russian forces are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first Ukrainian city Kremlin troops captured as part of their invasion of the country, a senior US defense official said on Friday.
“We saw reports there of resistance in areas previously reported to be under Russian control,” the official told reporters. “We can’t confirm exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the point is that it doesn’t appear to be as firmly under Russian control as it was before… we would argue that Kherson is indeed contested territory again.” ”
The official said Ukrainian forces were fighting to regain control of the vital port city northwest of Crimea.
However, this US assessment has been questioned by both Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy, deputy chief of staff at Russia’s Defense Ministry, said Friday the Kherson region was “under full control”.
And Ukrainian officials also said the city appears to still be under Russian control, but there is fighting in the wider area, the New York Times reported.
Ukrainian forces have been able to pin Russian troops to most of the country’s major battlegrounds, frustrating Russians and dealing heavy blows to President Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich PutinDefense & National Security – Biden huddles with allies in Europe On the money – Jobless claims at lowest since late 1960s The US and EU must join forces to stop Putin MORE’s push to take over the former Soviet state.
Should Kherson indeed be challenged or eventually recaptured, Moscow would find it difficult to seize control of other major Ukrainian ports, including Odessa.
“That would be significant if the Ukrainians could retake Kherson. It’s a strategically located city,” the official said.
The loss of Kherson would also endanger Russian troops fighting in nearby Mykolaiv, the official added.
Russian forces around Kyiv are now in defensive positions and have halted “any interest in ground movements” towards the capital.
“They have made no headway towards the city, either from the north or the north-west, and east of Kyiv we are still holding them roughly where they were before,” the official said
“They are digging in, they are setting up defensive positions, they are showing no signs of being ready to attack Kyiv from the ground,” they said.
The official added that the assessment aligns with the US view that Russia is now “a priority” to fighting in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the contested Donbass region, where fighting has been raging since 2014.
“Obviously they overestimated their ability to take Kyiv and frankly they overestimated their ability to take every population center,” they said.
Rudskoy confirmed this in his comments earlier Friday.
“In general, the main tasks of the first phase of the operation have been completed,” he said. “The combat potential of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been significantly reduced, which, I emphasize again, allows us to focus the main efforts on achieving the main goal: the liberation of Donbass.”
However, the Russians continue to bombard cities, with about 1,250 rockets fired at Ukrainian targets since the attack began on February 24.
US intelligence has also received indications that Moscow has begun withdrawing its forces in Georgia for deployment in Ukraine, the official noted.
Washington has seen a “movement of some troops from Georgia” — where Kremlin troops have been stationed since their invasion in 2008 — but the defense official couldn’t give a number.