Russian forces abandon Kherson to advancing Ukrainian troops
The Russian army pulled out of the region around the city of Kherson overnight, leaving behind army uniforms, stockpiles of ammunition, and a local populace cheering the arrival of Ukrainian forces in the street. The New York Times is reporting from the front lines this morning that the Russian military has left the small village of Blahodatne, located on the strategic M14 main highway leading to Mykolaiv, another port city on the Pivdennnyi Buh about 60 miles west of Kherson. Ukraine has held Mykolaiv for some time but has not held Blahodatne or any of the other villages to the west and north of Kherson.
The Russian defense ministry announced in Moscow this morning that the retreat of all Russian troops on the west bank of the Dnipro River was complete. The Times, which has a photographer and at least two reporters on the scene, reported that the Russians are setting up new defensive positions on the east bank of the Dnipro and were beginning to shell Ukrainian military units advancing on Kherson on the west bank of the river.
The Times reporters, Andrew E. Kramer and Marc Santora, wrote that they had spoken by phone to residents of Kherson this morning who told them that “While there was no visible Russian military presence in the city on Friday, four residents described seeing Russian soldiers dressed in civilian clothes — some armed — moving about parts of the city.”
“Kherson is returning under the control of Ukraine. Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are entering the city,” the intelligence directorate of Ukraine’s defense ministry said in a statement released in Kyiv this morning.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, Putin’s government appeared to still be laying claim to Kherson. “Kherson region is a subject of the Russian Federation. This status is fixed,” Dmitri S. Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, announced today. “There can be no changes here.”
Reports from the front lines in Kherson indicate that Peskov should probably consult the local residents, who continued to greet advancing Ukrainian troops waving the distinctive blue and yellow national flag of Ukraine. The Russian defense ministry spokesman in Moscow appeared just as deluded. “Not a single piece of military equipment and weaponry was left … and there were no losses of personnel, weapons, equipment,” a defense ministry spokesman said. Here is a photograph of a warehouse in Blahodatne that was part of a Russian military base there. The photo was taken by Lynsey Addario of the New York Times this morning. It shows stacks of ammunition boxes and rows of what appear to be 82 mm mortar rounds lying on the ground. That is Russian ammunition. Those are Ukrainian troops walking through the warehouse examining their find.
Too bad there isn't a process to turn gaslight into a clean energy source - the Russian mouthpieces could power the whole planet.....
Bravo Ukraine 👏
And this is what the end of the line looks like when disinformation and misinformation entirely take over the public sphere through the mouth of the government/"official media". We call it propoganda (it is!) but seems to me it's more usefully understood right now as being at one end of a continuum along which "public information" in the US is currently traveling - in the wrong direction.
Whether it's far-right, fascist-/autocratic-leaning politicians, or clamoring trolls on social media and right-wing talk shows, or "mainstream media" pushing false narratives and half-truths down the throats of citizens who still believe they can rely, as in decades past, on what their tv or radio shows report...our society is already sliding toward what we correctly assess to be the tragedy of the Russian population's vulnerability to believing whatever their Dear Leader wants them to.
I have been thinking "How tragic for them! How insidious to control a population by denying them access to facts and verifiable truths!" And today this post came along and the parallels clicked into place. "Oh."