November 11, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below. 

Two Ukrainian soldiers wait for evacuation at a medical point in the area of Svatove and Kreminna, Luhansk region, on November 4.

Fierce fighting continues in the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, where there are high numbers of newly mobilized Russian troops, according to a Ukrainian official.

Roman Vlasenko, head of Severodonetsk district military administration, told Ukrainian television that there were three major frontlines running north-south in Luhansk.

Vlasenko said that Ukrainian forces were making some progress around the town of Svatove, and further north.

He said that “active hostilities” are ongoing along the entire frontline in the Luhansk region.

Ukrainian forces were advancing west and south of Svatove and Russian ammunition depots were being destroyed, he said.

There was a high concentration of new Russian troops in the towns of Kreminna, Rubizhne, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, Vlasenko said.

All four towns and cities are south of Svatove and were captured by the Russians in the spring and summer after intense conflict and widespread destruction.

Ukrainian forces are now within a few miles of all four places, he said.

During internal conversations about the war in Ukraine, America’s top general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, has in recent weeks led a strong push to seek a diplomatic solution as fighting heads toward a winter lull. 

But Milley’s position is not widely backed by President Biden’s national security team, including Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, neither of whom believe it’s time to make a serious push for talks over Ukraine, according to two administration officials familiar with the discussion.

The result is a growing debate inside the administration over whether Ukraine’s recent gains on the battlefield should spark a renewed effort to seek some sort of negotiated end to the fighting, according to officials. 

Milley’s push for peace has spilled into the public in recent days, just as Ukraine takes back the city of Kherson. In comments at the Economic Club of New York on Wednesday, Milley praised the Ukrainian army for fighting Russia to a stalemate, but said that an outright military victory is out of reach.    

The comments left administration officials unsurprised — given Milley’s advocacy for the position internally — but also raised concern among some about the administration appearing divided in the eyes of the Kremlin. 

While some Biden officials are more open to exploring what diplomacy may look like, sources tell CNN most of the top diplomatic and national security officials are wary of giving Russian President Vladimir Putin any sort of leverage at the negotiating table and believe Ukrainians must determine when to hold talks, not the US. 

“That’s up to the Ukrainians. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” President Biden said at a Wednesday press conference when asked about the potential for talks.  

In internal deliberations, officials say Milley has sought to make it clear that he is not urging a Ukrainian capitulation, but rather that he believes now is an optimal time to drive toward an end to the war before it drags into spring or beyond, leading to more death and destruction without changing the front lines, officials say. 

Milley’s position comes as the US military has dug deep into US weapons stockpiles to support the Ukrainians and is currently scouring the globe for materials to support Ukraine heading into winter — such as heaters and generators — which has raised concerns about how long this war can be sustained, officials said.   

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A Ukrainian serviceman speaks with a chaplain while a local resident rides a bicycle along a street, in a village near the newly recaptured city of Snihurivka, Mykolaiv region, on Thursday.

Ukrainian authorities are beginning the hard work of rebuilding in territories recently liberated in their southern counteroffensive.

The head of the regional military administration of Mykolaiv, which neighbors Kherson, visited the small city of Snihurivka Friday to discuss “the restoration of life in the liberated territories of the region.”

He commended hospital staff in the city for working through the Russian occupation.

He also urged locals to beware of any explosives left behind by the Russians.

“Despite the fact that the relevant services have already started (removing mines in) the liberated territories, I warn local residents to be careful,” Kim added.

A close-up satellite image shows damage to the Antonivskyi vehicle bridge on the Dnipro River, Kherson region.

At least seven bridges — four of them crossing the Dnipro River — have been destroyed in the last 24 hours, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies and other photos.

Two bridges, a vehicle and a railroad bridge that sit atop a dam at Nova Kakhovka were among those destroyed. 

In recent months, Ukrainian strikes on and near the bridge had badly damaged the Antonivskyi vehicle bridge, located just southeast of the city of Kherson, but the latest damage completely destroyed a number of roadway sections. Additionally, the Antonivskyi railroad bridge, located just east of the vehicle bridge, was also ruined. 

Another bridge, which crosses the Inhulets River at Darivka, was also destroyed. 

Finally, two bridges — a highway and a pedestrian bridge — were wrecked in the village of Tyahinka. That village is located just 14 miles east of the dam at Nova Kakhovka. 

It’s unclear who is responsible for the destruction of the bridges, but they come as Russian military forces retreated from the west bank of the Dnipro in the Kherson region. 

#Kherson#

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Friday has been “a historic day” for Ukraine after Russia announced its withdrawal from the west bank of the Kherson region.

“We are returning the south of our country, we are returning Kherson,” Zelensky said.

The president talked about the appearance of Ukrainian flags in the city even before the military arrived, saying, “I am happy to see how people, despite all the threats, despite the repressions, abuse of the occupiers, kept Ukrainian flags, believed in Ukraine.”

Zelensky expressed his gratitude to the military units involved in the operation — “absolutely everyone, from privates to generals, the Armed Forces, intelligence, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Guard — all those who brought this day closer for Kherson region.”

He said stabilization measures would follow due to the threat of mines. “The occupiers left a lot of mines and explosives, in particular at vital facilities. We will be clearing them,” he said.

Zelensky repeated what Ukraine’s Intelligence Directorate said earlier Friday, appealing to any Russian soldiers still on the west bank to surrender.

“We guarantee that you will be treated in accordance with the law and international standards. And to those Russian military who disguised themselves in civilian clothes and are hiding somewhere, I want to say that you cannot hide. We will find you anyway. Do not delay.”

As Ukrainian forces consolidate their hold on the western part of the Kherson region, officials have warned residents not to try to return home too soon.

“More and more settlements are returning under the Ukrainian flag,” the head of Kherson’s regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said in a video.

Ukrainian officials have also been posting video of Russian armor left behind, despite the insistence of the Russian Defense Ministry that all equipment had been taken to the east bank.

Ukrainian Infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said plans were underway to restore transportation connections with the liberated territories of Kherson.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said that “in the course of successful offensive actions, advanced units of our troops in some places have already reached the right bank of the Dnipro river. Measures to detect and eliminate the enemy in a number of settlements continue.”

In its operational note late Friday, the General Staff said that Russian forces were “improving the fortification equipment of defensive borders on the left [east] bank of the Dnipro” and in Crimea.

Elsewhere on the front lines The military said that , Russian forces continued offensive actions in parts of Donetsk, including in Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka.

It claimed that Ukrainian fire had inflicted heavy casualties on a Russian control point near the city of Enerhodar, which is next to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. “More than 50 occupiers were killed and more than 40 were wounded,” it said.

A satellite image shows the extent of damage on the Nova Kakhovka dam in the Kherson region.

New damage has been inflicted on a critical dam that spans the Dnipro River at Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region in the last 24 hours, according to satellite images from Maxar Technologies obtained by CNN.

Water is flowing out of three sluice gates at the dam, where a major hydro-electric project is situated. 

It’s unclear how the latest damage, which is close to the west bank, was caused. Local Telegram channels reported Thursday night the sound of explosions around the dam.

The sluice gates under the destroyed sections of the bridge are the only ones releasing water, but it’s unclear from the satellite images whether they were damaged in the explosion and whether the release of water is controlled or impeded by the collapsed sections of bridge.

A photo, which appeared on social media on Friday afternoon, showed water flowing from the corners of the sluice gates and the missing bridge sections. CNN geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the photo, which was taken from the southern bank of the Dnipro River.

Although Ukrainian armed forces have liberated large swathes of territory in Kherson, they do not appear they have taken control of the dam at Nova Kakhovka.

Ukrhydroenergo, which operates the hydro-electric plant, said it had not heard of fresh damage to the dam and was unable to offer further comment.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant upstream uses the water in the dam’s reservoir to cool its nuclear reactors. The reservoir holds about 18 million cubic meters of water.

On Oct. 21, Ukrainian Defense Intelligence claimed that Russian forces had begun mining the sluice gates and supports at the dam. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also made similar claims in a national speech on Oct. 20. 

At the time, Russian-appointed officials in Kherson dismissed the claims as “nonsense.”

Ukraine has acknowledged that its forces carried out attacks on the Russian fleet and harbor at Sevastopol in Crimea at the end of last month.

A government crowdfunding platform said that “on October 29, 2022, naval drones hit Russian ships, [in an operation] carried out exclusively by unmanned devices.”

The platform said that “small and fast” drones had damaged three Russian vessels, including the Admiral Makarov, a frigate warship that is also the flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

Russian authorities acknowledged damage to a minesweeper but not to any other naval vessel. There has been no independent confirmation that the Makarov was seriously damaged.

The crowdfunding site said its goal was “to assemble a fleet of 100 such vessels. They will defend the waters of our seas, stop Russian ships carrying missiles from leaving the bay, protect merchant ships, and perform secret missions.”

It estimated the cost of each naval drone at $250,000.

A Ukrainian multiple rocket launcher vehicle drives along a road in Kherson Oblast on Friday.

The Russian Defense Ministry reiterated that all Russian troops have been withdrawn from the west bank of the Kherson region as of early Friday, as Ukrainians celebrate the retreat.

Here’s what we know now:

Russia claims full withdrawal: Russia again said that all its troops and equipment have been withdrawn from the west bank of the Kherson region as of early Friday.

The defense ministry claimed that “not a single piece of military equipment or weapons have been left on the right bank.” But social media video shows Russian tanks, armored vehicles and crates of ammunition displayed by Ukrainian troops. 

Ukrainian officials have also warned that some Russian troops may have remained behind in civilian clothing, saying that any Russian soldiers remaining on the west bank should surrender immediately to “avoid death.”

Russia ceded about 40% of the region: Russian forces have given up about 40% of the Kherson region, which straddles the Dnipro River, within a few days, after being ordered to withdraw to the east bank of the Dnipro by the country’s defense ministry on Wednesday.

Altogether, Ukraine has reclaimed some 10,000 square kilometers of territory in the Kherson region.

“Ours. Kherson is ours.”: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the Russian retreat with a video of celebrations in the city of Kherson.

Ukrainian troops retake village: The Ukrainian Armed Forces have retaken another part of the Kherson region — the village of Tyahinka, near the strategic town of Nova Kakhovka — despite Russian forces destroying bridges on their way out. A number of photos, also geolocated and authenticated by CNN, show that the Ukrainian forces were able to make their way into the village despite the main highway’s bridge and a pedestrian bridge being destroyed by the Russians as they withdrew.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky posted nighttime video of celebrations in Kherson city, now liberated by Ukrainian troops.

Amid waving flags, a crowd chants “ZSU,” the Ukrainian acronym for the armed forces. 

A statement from the Russian Defense Ministry reiterated that all Russian troops have been withdrawn from the west bank of the Kherson region as of early Friday.

“All personnel, weapons and military equipment of the group have been withdrawn to the left [east] bank. In total, more than 30 thousand Russian military personnel, about 5 thousand pieces of weapons and military equipment, as well as material property were withdrawn,” according to the statement

But social media video suggests otherwise, with Russian tanks, armored vehicles and crates of ammunition displayed by Ukrainian troops. 

Ukraine also urged any Russian soldiers remaining on the west bank to surrender immediately. And officials warned some Russian troops may have remained behind in civilian clothing.

Ukraine has asserted that it carried out attacks against Russian troop concentrations that were withdrawing, but the Russian Defense Ministry said that “despite the attempts of the enemy to disrupt the transfer of Russian troops, no losses among personnel, weapons, military equipment and materiel were allowed. The group’s Russian air defense and electronic warfare systems repulsed all attempts to deliver missile strikes.”

The ministry also claimed that the Ukrainian advance had been held back for several days. “Russian artillery fire, air strikes and the use of minefields stopped the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at a distance of 30-40 kilometers from the area of crossings over the [Dnipro] River,” it said.

“Currently, the accumulations of manpower and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the right bank of the [Dnipro] are being hit by fire,” the ministry said. 

Ukraine has not reported any incoming fire from the east bank Friday but said a missile attack on the city of Mykolaiv, close to the border with Kherson, killed multiple people early Friday.

Ukrainian officials have been celebrating the liberation of Kherson city and the west bank of the region.

Yuriy Sobolevskyi, first deputy head of Kherson regional council, said on Telegram: “Kherson is unbreakable! Today free people were able to come to Svobody (Freedom) Square with the flags of Ukraine again, as it was when the enemy captured the city.”

Sobolevskyi recalled that when he was in Russian-occupied territory, “I always wrote that every day we are one day closer to our freedom! And this day for Kherson has come today! No one can break us and intimidate us! Kherson is Ukraine!”

The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South suggested that the Russian withdrawal to the east bank was not yet complete, although there have been no reports of Russian forces still on the west bank Friday. 

In Facebook and Telegram messages on Friday afternoon local time, it said that “the enemy continues regrouping and moving troops to the left [east] bank of the Dnipro river….The occupiers keep on with looting the settlements they are retreating from. They are inflicting maximum damage to transport infrastructure as well as critical infrastructure.”

The military command added that Ukrainian units “performed a fire mission area overnight, including aiming at enemy military convoys and concentration of enemy units. Final data is being clarified.”

Russian forces destroyed a bridge on the road out of Tyahinka, Ukraine, on November 11.

Ukrainian armed forces have retaken another part of the Kherson region — the village of Tyahinka, near the strategic town of Nova Kakhovka — despite Russian forces destroying bridges on their way out.

A video circulating on social media Friday, geolocated and authenticated by CNN, shows Ukrainian troops being greeted by residents on the main highway in Tyahinka. The village is just 20 kilometers (about 14 miles) west of the hydroelectric dam and bridges that stretch across the Dnipro River at Nova Kakhovka.

A number of photos, also geolocated and authenticated by CNN, show that the Ukrainian forces were able to make their way into the village despite the main highway’s bridge and a pedestrian bridge being destroyed by the Russians as they withdrew.

Those bridges cross the Tyahinka River, which flows into the Dnipro River.

Russia is pulling its troops back to the Dnipro’s eastern bank, allowing the Ukrainians to reclaim territory west of the river.

Kira Rudik, a member of Ukrainian parliament, told CNN that the retreat of Russian forces from the southern city of Kherson has prompted “so much crying of happiness.”

“Today is a historic date. We will remember it because we are liberating the regional center Kherson that was captured at the beginning the invasion. And … not too many people believe this would be taken back. … People are so happy, they are chanting, and I can tell you there is so much crying of happiness. Because when nobody believed that we would be able to do that, Kherson is Ukraine, and it’s being liberated today,” she told CNN’s Jim Sciutto.

Rudik cautioned that the pullback of Russian troops from Kherson should be called a retreat and not a withdrawal.

It is the “result of intense fighting and strategic actions by Ukrainian army and the support of our allies. Nothing is given in this war. It’s always a measure of pain, death and incredible resolve and push of Ukrainian soldiers,” she said.

When asked about possible negotiations to end the war, Rudik said Ukraine requires security guarantees.

“The question remains the same: How can we trust that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will not attack us tomorrow, or in a year or in five years? Because the main thing that we owe to our children, to the next generation, that they wouldn’t have to fight this war again and again and again,” Rudik said.  

A Ukrainian service member stands next to a previously captured Russian armoured personnel carried in the village of Blahodatne, retaken by the Ukrainian Armed Forces a day ago in the Kherson region, Ukraine, on November 11.

Ukrainian forces have advanced through much of the Kherson region Friday, apparently encountering little or no resistance.

Social media videos from towns and villages throughout the region’s west bank show troops being greeted by civilians. 

Ukrainian troops have also been seen in the middle of Kherson city amid scenes of jubilation. But crowds have been relatively small, reflecting the fact that many residents had left and perhaps that others are wary that the Russians might strike the city now they have left.

Ukrainian forces advanced Friday toward Kherson city, the only regional capital captured by Russian forces since the start of the invasion in February, on several fronts — and now have control of almost the entire west bank of the Dnipro River.

Russian forces have ceded about 40% of the Kherson region, which straddles the Dnipro, within a few days, after being ordered to withdraw to the east bank of the Dnipro by the country’s defense ministry on Wednesday.

Altogether, Ukraine has reclaimed some 10,000 square kilometers of territory in the Kherson region.

It’s unclear whether any Russian troops remain on the west bank. The Russian ministry has said the withdrawal is complete.

Now that Ukrainian forces have recaptured Kherson as far as the Dnipro river, the two sides face each other across the river over a distance of some 250 kilometers — from the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the edge of the Black Sea. 

Ukraine’s Intelligence Directorate has appealed to any Russian soldiers still on the west bank of the Kherson region to surrender.

In a message on its Telegram channel, the Intelligence Directorate said, “Russian soldiers! As expected, after the retreat of the main group of troops of the Russian army from the Ukrainian Kherson, your command left you to the mercy of fate. Your commanders urge you to change into civilian clothes and try to escape from Kherson on your own. Obviously you won’t be able to.”

The message continues: 

The directorate told any remaining Russian soldiers that immediately surrendering is the “only chance to avoid death.”

“In case of voluntary surrender, Ukraine guarantees you the preservation of life and safety. We comply with the Geneva Conventions, guarantee prisoners of war food, medical care and the possibility of your exchange for servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces held captive in the Russian Federation,” it said. 

It encouraged Russian soldiers to contact a Ukrainian hotline called “I Want To Live.”

In a huge setback for the Kremlin, Russian troops withdrew from the Kherson region west of the Dnipro River, and images geolocated by CNN show Ukrainian forces are entering the key southern regional capital city.

Here’s what we know so far:

Russian retreat from Kherson: All Russian troops have left the key Ukrainian city of Kherson, the country’s defense ministry said, confirming a humiliating retreat for Moscow.

The main bridge — the Antonivskyi bridge — over the Dnipro River in the region has also been destroyed, images and video on social media showed on Friday.

Kherson was the only Ukrainian regional capital that Russian forces had captured since February’s invasion. Their withdrawal east across the Dnipro River cedes large swathes of land that Russia has occupied since the early days of the war, and that President Vladimir Putin had declared as Russian territory just five weeks ago.

Scenes of jubilant Ukrainians: Residents of Kherson city have flooded the city’s central square, waving and raising Ukrainian flags, in images geolocated by CNN.

Ukrainian residents of a town on the western outskirts of Kherson city have ripped down Russian propaganda billboards, according to videos on social media geolocated by CNN.

In the town of Snihurivka, in the Mykolaiv region, a CNN team witnessed a party atmosphere, with residents greeting each other with hugs on the streets. Others broke down in tears recalling the ordeal of Russian occupation.

Officials urge caution: A Ukrainian official on Friday acknowledged that Kherson city is “almost under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” but warned that some Russian troops may have remained behind in civilian clothing. Residents of Kherson city with whom CNN has spoken in recent weeks confirmed that many Russian soldiers were using civilian clothing.

On Wednesday, officials in Kyiv treated the announcement that Moscow would withdraw troops with skepticism, warning about mines and possible Russian scorched-earth tactics.

Here’s the most current map of control:

The first Ukrainian soldiers have arrived in the middle of Kherson city, where they were greeted by crowds of civilians, according to social media video.

One video showed several soldiers among a crowd in the main Svobody Square being hugged by civilians and taking selfies with them.

One soldier is lifted into the air by the crowd.

The crowd of several dozen civilians, some draped in the Ukrainian flag, is chanting “SZU,” the acronym for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The Ukrainian flag also appears to have been raised at the city’s police headquarters.

A Ukrainian official for the first time on Friday acknowledged that Kherson city is “almost under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” but warned that some Russian troops may have remained behind in civilian clothing. 

Serhii Khlan, a member of Ukraine’s Kherson regional council, told an online briefing that “de-occupation of Kherson city and the western bank of the Dnipro is at the final stage.”

He cautioned that many Russian troops “threw away their military uniforms, and are now hiding with civilian clothes on.”

Residents of Kherson city with whom CNN has spoken in recent weeks confirmed that many Russian soldiers were using civilian clothing.

Khlan also said that large numbers of Russian troops drowned while trying to flee the city. CNN cannot confirm his claim.

“Our Armed Forces, under a fierce onslaught, destroyed most of the Russians who were fleeing like rats to the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro,” Khlan said. “They were fleeing along the pontoons they had built under Antonivskyi bridge, leaving their equipment behind. Many Russians have drowned.”

While retreating, he said that Russian forces had detonated explosives at Kherson’s power plant and destroyed part of a TV antenna. Photos of the destroyed TV antenna circulated this morning on Telegram.

“Now since our Armed Forces have actually taken control of the right-bank [western] part of the Kherson region, we can keep the left-bank [eastern] part of Kherson region under fire control, up to the Crimean isthmus,” he said.

He said that communications in the city remained extremely difficult, and that both fuel and electricity were scarce.