Ukraine pulls civilians back from parts of endangered Kherson

KYIV — Ukraine is evacuating hundreds of people from Korabel, an island district of Kherson city in southern Ukraine, after Russia last week severely damaged the only bridge connecting the suburb with the rest of the city.  

“There are still about 600 people left out of 1,800 who were living there before the strike. At least 200 will be evacuated today. And Russians continue to attack the bridge and the area during evacuation,” Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, deputy head of the Kherson regional administration, said on Friday.

The few people left in Korabel have no gas, no electricity, no shops and no public transportation.

The bridge attack prompted fears that Russians are planning to retake Kherson. Russia seized the city of 300,000 in the early days of its full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022, but was driven out later that year.

Holding the city, located on the far side of the massive Dnipro River from its main forces, proved to be very difficult for Russia, and any returning forces would face the same challenges.

“An attempt to land troops in the Korabel area after the bridge was destroyed looks like suicide — it will be difficult to expand the bridgehead and hold it. The Dnipro is a serious obstacle. It would be a kill zone,” said Mykola Bielieskov, research fellow at the Ukrainian National Institute for Strategic Studies.

The damage and even destruction of the bridge will not have a significant effect on the Ukrainian army’s ability to protect Kherson, said Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern army command.

“The Dnipro delta is under the control of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. So, to get to the Korabel district, Russians would need to pass several islands, several straits, and the main river, and only after that land on the shore,” Voloshyn said, adding that Ukrainian forces have rebuffed all previous Russian attempts to seize islands in the Dnipro River.

Russian forces in the area have regrouped. “They are everywhere, trying to land troops almost on every island,” Voloshyn said, but added: “We detect those who try and strike and drown them in the river.”

Putin’s wishlist

Despite those difficulties, Bilieskov said there could be pressure on the Russian military from the Kremlin to undertake a spectacular strike to wipe away the memory of the 2022 defeat in Kherson.

Despite its liberation in 2022, Kherson, now with only 65,000 residents, has been under sustained Russian attack from the left bank of the Dnipro with mortars, glide bombs and relentless drone attacks, many used to hunt down civilians in what’s called a “human safari.”

For Vladimir Putin, the loss of Kherson was a stunning blow as it was the only regional capital captured by the Russians in 2022. It’s also one of five Ukrainian regions that the Kremlin has illegally annexed, and which Putin wants under full Russian control.

“What’s happening now in Kherson is both a tactic to destroy civilians and revenge,” Tolokonnikov said.

“Only yesterday, they used nine glide bombs against Kherson’s residential areas,” Voloshyn said. “Along with that, the enemy increased the number of FPV drone attacks against the city and its suburbs from 200-220 to 300 a day. Local authorities are now covering all key roads, communication points with anti-drone nets.”