on the kherson perimeter have been dismissing reports that the russians were going to pull back. when we visited a mobile unit on the flatlands between kherson and mykolaiv the closest ukrainian controlled city the soldiers said they wouldn t believe the russians were leaving until they could see them go. leaving kherson would be a devastating defeat for russia it was their biggest single prize since they invaded in february. in moscow, general sergey surovikin, commander of russian forces in ukraine, made the announcement. he told a televised meeting of senior military leaders including the defence minister that russia could not properly supply its troops on the west bank of the river. translation: i understand this is a very difficult decision, - but at the same time we will preserve the lives of our service personnel, and in general the combat capability
when we visited a mobile unit on the flatlands between kherson and mykolaiv, the closest ukrainian controlled city, the soldiers said they wouldn t believe the russians were leaving until they could see them go. leaving kherson would be a devastating defeat for russia, it was their biggest single prize since they invaded in february. in moscow, general sergey surovikin, commander of russian forces in ukraine, made the announcement. he told a televised meeting of senior military leaders, including the defence minister, that russia could not properly supply its troops on the west bank of the river. translation: i understand this is a very difficult decision, - but at the same time we will preserve the lives of our service personnel, and in general the combat capability of the group of forces. ukraine s first response was to warn
ukraine s president is accusing russia of blocking 22 million tons of food products. plus this warning from president zelenskyy. if ports are not unblocked, many countries will face a food crisis. melissa bell is following all the developments from kyiv. melissa, we re learning russians are also introducing new controls on movement in mariupol. the mayor saying it s nearly impossible to leave. what else are you learning? that s right. essentially saying to anyone who wants to come into mariupol tonight, remember, that it s a one-way trip. what we re seeing in mariupol is what we ve seen in cities like kherson in the past. once they fall to the russian forces as mariupol did friday night when the last of the fighters were confirmed to be in russian hands as prisoners of war, is city s are essentially
lockeddown. the border closed and it s hard to get in. if you do, you don t get out. and for those inside to get out. what we ve been hearing from those leaving kherson already, another city that had seen a similar fate are details of what s happening inside the russian-controlled areas. of course, we have very little access to that because we can t get reportered into those areas. stories of unexplained disappearances. no medical supplies, harrowing tales. it appears tonight mariupol is facing that same fate with it residents locked inside and facing no doubt the same kind of things we ve seen from those fleeing kherson in the past. there has been continued fighting, of course, tonight, in the east of the country where the forces have been concentrated. the russian forces, their man power and fire power. we ve also seen an interesting development over the course of the last couple days. that is increasing missile attacks on the part of russian
manhandling. but i don t have any records of torturing at the moment. mayor, having seen some of these successes in some villages, do you think there s a possibility ukrainian forces can retake kherson? translator: it s important to understand that every single person living in kherson and in the kherson region cannot wait until the entire region will be freed. but as far as i understand, as of now, this is surely not an easy task. and obviously given the recent news that people have seen the news that have come from the towns in kyiv region and also in k charleston nieve and other towns, i can see there is panic growing in the city of kherson .