Foes gird for wider clash in Kherson
Pentagon announces $400 million in new military aid for Kyiv
KYIV, Ukraine — Russian soldiers are forcing Ukrainian civilians from their apartments in the occupied capital of the Kherson region and moving in themselves, a resident said Friday as the southern city became a growing focus of the war in Ukraine.
His account of soldiers spreading throughout the city of Kherson suggested that Russia could be preparing for intense urban warfare in anticipation of Ukrainian advances.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced Friday that Ukraine will receive $400 million more in military aid and that the U.S. is establishing a security assistance headquarters in Germany to oversee all weapons transfers and military training for Kyiv’s forces.
The new command post, called the Security Assistance Group Ukraine, signals a more permanent, long-term program to continue to aid Kyiv in its fight against Russia, said Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh, and will have about 300 personnel.
In Kherson, Russia-installed authorities continued to urge civilians to leave the city, which lies on western bank of the Dnieper River and has been cut off from supplies and food by Ukrainian bombardment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has suggested the Russians were feigning a pull-out from Kherson in order to lure in the Ukrainian army. Zelenskyy called attempts to
convince civilians to move deeper into Russian-controlled territory “theater.”
A Kherson resident told Associated Press that Russian soldiers were installing themselves in vacated apartments. Russian military personnel are reportedly going door to door, checking property deeds, and forcing tenants to leave immediately if they can’t confirm ownership of apartments, he said.
“They’re forcing city residents to evacuate, and then Russian soldiers move into freed-up apartments across all of Kherson,” the resident, who spoke on condition that only his first name —
Konstantin — was used for security reasons. “It is obvious that they are preparing for fighting the Ukrainian army in the city.”
Hospitals and clinics were not serving patients in Kherson, where residents also reported problems with food supplies.
“There are almost no deliveries of food into the city, the residents are using their own stocks and are queuing to the few shops that are still open,” Konstantin said.
Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told the AP that as part of its counteroffensive to reclaim the Kherson region, the
Ukrainian army cut off the right bank of the Dnieper from supplies of weapons and food by shelling main transportation routes and ruining bridges across the river.
“The Russians understand the danger of transport routes being blocked and have practically put up with the fact that they will have to retreat from the right bank of the Dnieper,” Zhdanov said. “But the Russian troops are not prepared to leave Kherson peacefully and are preparing for battles within the city. They’re deploying the mobilized reservists there and new tactical
battalion groups.”
The New York Times reported Friday that Russia is funneling newly drafted conscripts to the front line in Ukraine’s east, but so far, according to a Ukrainian general and Western analysts, the newly intensified attacks have proven ineffective, and high Russian casualties are expected.
Russia is pouring the new conscripts across the whole of the front line in an attempt to halt recent Ukrainian advances while rebuilding ground forces decimated during eight months of war. After a chaotic mobilization in
September, military analysts had predicted the deployment of Russian men to front line areas through the fall, with high numbers of casualties expected. Russian forces are attacking in the east but on defense in the south.
According to Zhdanov, Ukraine has a significant advantage over Russia in aviation and artillery on the right bank of the Dnieper, which means that they could shell Kherson city and avoid a head-on clash.
“Kyiv is taking its time because the Russian resources in Kherson are evaporating, and they’re getting weaker by the day,” Zhdanov said.
It was unclear how much of the $400 million in new military aid would be deployed in any battle for Kherson, but the Pentagon did say it includes contracts for 1,100 Phoenix Ghost drones, funding to refurbish 45 tanks and an additional 40 riverine boats, among other systems.
The Phoenix Ghost drone is an armed aircraft that explodes on contact with its target.
The T-72 tanks are being pulled from existing defense industry inventory in the Czech Republic, paid for by the Netherlands and will have advanced optics, communications and armor packages. They are part of a total package of 90 T-72 tanks that will be sent to Ukraine through 2023, the Pentagon said.
This package also includes funds to refurbish Hawk surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles so they can be provided to Ukraine to assist in its defense against Iranian drones used by Russian forces. Hawk missiles have a longer range than the Stinger anti-aircraft missiles the U.S. has previously provided.