Russian Troops Suffering 'Catastrophic Losses' While Retreating—Report

Russian troops are suffering catastrophic losses while retreating from the key Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to reports.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense published a video on Twitter that appears to show Ukrainian attacks on Russian columns retreating across the Dnieper River.

"For every meter of our land—fire!" the ministry wrote as a caption.

News aggregator Visegrad 24 said on Twitter that incoming reports say Russian troops are suffering "catastrophic losses" by the river.

Newsweek has been unable to independently verify when the footage was taken.

Russian troops were ordered on Wednesday to retreat from the western portion of the southern Kherson region in Ukraine.

Sergey Surovikin, who became the new head of Russia's forces in Ukraine in October, said on Wednesday that his troops would be retreating across the Dnieper River to "preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of the troop group." The transfer "will be carried out in the near future," he added.

Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, have urged caution and say they are skeptical of Russia's intentions in retreating.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov told Reuters in an interview on Thursday evening that Russia would need at least a week to withdraw troops from the western bank of the Dnieper River.

According to him, Russia has 40,000 soldiers in the Kherson region.

Reznikov noted that Russian troops still remain in Kherson—around the city and on the west bank of the Dnieper—despite the fact that Moscow has announced a retreat.

"It is not so easy to withdraw these troops from Kherson in one or two days. As a minimum, (it will take) one week," he said, noting that Russia's actions can be unpredictable.

The deputy head of the Russian-installed Kherson regional administration, Ekaterina Gubareva, told state-run news agency RIA Novosti on Friday that Russian troops are creating a line of defense along the entire portion of the river's eastern bank.

"A reliable line of defense is being built, various kinds of fortifications are being erected," she said.

It comes after a Ukrainian military source told Ukrainskaya Pravda a day earlier that Russia could be buying time to construct a line of defense on the eastern part of the Dnieper River, where Russian forces are supposedly withdrawing to.

"In order to strengthen the coast all the way to Kherson and beyond, the Russians will need additional time. Therefore, we should not hope that they will surrender in a day. They need to keep the Ukrainian forces on the right bank as long as possible. But, of course, we are not waiting either, and we are trying to advance," the unnamed source said.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, has said in its latest assessment that Ukrainian forces are advancing steadily in the region, as Russian troops conduct a withdrawal.

"The Russian withdrawal will take some time to complete, and fighting will continue throughout Kherson Oblast as Ukrainian troops advance and come up against pre-prepared Russian defensive lines, especially around Kherson City," the ISW said.

The British Ministry of Defence has assessed that Russian troops will continue to be "vulnerable" to attack as they retreat.

"With limited crossing points, Russian forces will be vulnerable in crossing the Dnipro [Dnieper] River," it said on Thursday, adding that it is likely that the withdrawal will take place over several days with defensive positions and artillery fire covering withdrawing forces.

Newsweek has contacted Russian and Ukrainian authorities for comment.