Ukrainian troops pushed towards Kherson on Thursday, after Moscow ordered one of the war's biggest retreats, though Kyiv warned that Russian troops could still turn Kherson into a "city of death" and it would take them at least a week to withdraw, APA reports citing Reuters.
In an interview in Kyiv Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Reuters that Russia had a contingent of 40,000 troops in Kherson region and intelligence showed its forces remained in the city, around the city and on the west bank of the vast Dnipro River.
"It's not that easy to withdraw these troops from Kherson in one day or two days. As a minimum, (it will take) one week," he said.
Reznikov added that such an exit would free up forces from both sides to fight elsewhere.
Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine's army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian troops had advanced 7 km (4.3 miles) in the past 24 hours and had recaptured 12 settlements in the south.
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