Posted on 03/25/22
| News Source: The Hill
Russian forces are no longer in full control of Kherson, the first key Ukrainian city Kremlin troops captured as part of its invasion into the country, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.
“We’ve seen reports of resistance there in areas that were previously reported to be in Russian control,” the official told reporters. “We can’t corroborate exactly who is in control of Kherson, but the point is it doesn't appear to be as solidly in Russian control as it was before. . . . we would argue that Kherson is actually contested territory again.”
The official said Ukrainian forces are fighting to take back control of the vital port city located northwest of Crimea.
However, that U.S. assessment has been challenged by both Russian and Ukrainian officials.
Col. Gen. Sergei Rudskoy, the Russian defense ministry’s deputy head of the general staff, on Friday said the Kherson region was “under full control.”
And Ukrainian officials also said the city still looked to be under Russian control but there were battles across the broader area, The New York Times reported.
Ukrainian forces have been able to bog down Russian troops across most major fighting hotspots in the country, frustrating the Russians and dealing major blows to President Vladimir Putin’s move to take the former Soviet state.
Should Kherson indeed be contested or eventually taken back, it would make it difficult for Moscow to move to take control of other major Ukrainian ports including Odessa.