Ukrainian soldiers in the liberated city Kherson said they have found bins stuffed with discarded Russian uniforms as Vladimir Putin’s troops that have left behind try to blend in with civilians.
Stanislav Stoikobv, head of the territorial defence in the region, told The Independent that the Ukrainian military estimated as many as 15 per cent of Moscow’s troops stationed in Kherson had been left behind.
On Sunday, Kherson was closed for ‘filtration’, a process by which Ukrainian authorities hope to identify the Russian soldiers.
Mr Stoikobv said: “We have to find them, they have no contact with Russian troops on the other side of the river. We are concerned Russia will start heavily shelling Kherson but we are panicking.”
Russia could send “more cannon fodder” to Ukraine after its setback in Kherson, the UK’s defence secretary Ben Wallace said while Kherson residents celebrated the liberation.
He said Russia will be “worried” and “disappointed” by the loss of Kherson, and that it was important not to “underestimate” how “brutal” Moscow can be even “to their own”.
