Russia | Russia’s rapid retreat in Kherson was visible in a video from the country’s ministry

Russian On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense organized a press conference via video link, during which, from Russia’s point of view, there were worrying signs of the development of the war situation in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine and also in the northeastern part of Ukraine.

The news agencies Reuters and AFP reported that during the press conference maps were shown, based on which Russia has lost large areas in a short time.

“The shaded area, which indicates Russian-controlled territory, was much smaller than the day before,” Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, however, nothing was said at the press conference about Russia having to withdraw its forces from the regions.

AFP said that the map showed that, for example, Russia no longer holds the village of Dudchany, which is located on the west bank of the Dnieper River about 120 kilometers northeast of the city of Kherson.

According to Reuters, the front line has moved rapidly about 25 kilometers south of where it was until recently and now lies on a line west of the village of Dudchany.

Also Finnish the group that maintains the war map said on Tuesday that the village of Dudchany has been liberated, and there are also rumors about the Russians retreating further south.

“Ukraine has again achieved significant success, especially in the area of ​​Kherson and the Eastern Front. The entire northern part of the Kherson front collapsed quickly today, and Ukraine was able to advance tens of kilometers at best,” stated the military historian participating in the map update Emil Kastehelmi in his Tuesday night review on Twitter.

Head of the Moscow puppet government in Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, admitted publiclythat Ukrainian forces have made “breakthroughs” in the northeastern parts of Kherson province, precisely in the area of ​​Duchany village.

Ukrainian in the northeast, Russian troops seem to have retreated to the border of the Luhansk region, which would mean that the Russians have almost completely left Kharkiv province, Reuters interpreted.

“Kharkov Oblast is increasingly free from the occupiers, and Ukraine is moving the fight to Luhansk Oblast,” said Kastehelmi.

For months, Russia held much of the Kharkiv area until Ukraine launched a fierce counteroffensive to liberate the area in the early days of September.

Ukrainian Deputy Minister of the Interior Yevhen Enin said on Tuesday, according to AFP, that Ukraine had recaptured 50 villages and towns in Kherson province. He did not say when this would have happened.

“The situation is now developing rapidly, and it seems that every hour there is information about new liberated villages and areas”, Emil Kastehelmi estimates.

The Ukrainian armed forces, on the other hand, said in a statement that the Russian forces are in a “demoralized” state. Soldiers leave their positions and destroy ammunition depots and bridges while fleeing, the armed forces said.

Russian the apparent defeats on the front come at an extremely awkward moment, as on Tuesday the upper house of the Russian parliament, or the Federation Council, passed a law whereby four Ukrainian regions – Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – are now allegedly part of the Russian Federation.

President Vladimir Putin signed the agreements on “joining” the regions on Friday last week and the lower house of the parliament, the Duma blessed the project unanimously on Monday.

Regional mergers were preceded by “referendums”, in which, according to Russia’s claims, the overwhelming majority of the population of the regions wanted to secede from Ukraine and become part of Russia. According to Ukraine and Western countries, regional integration is theater against international law.

Russia does not hold much of the territory it claims as its own, and on Tuesday that area shrank even further. “Territorial connections” concern about 15 percent of Ukraine’s area.