GENICHESK, February 7. /TASS/. Acting Governor of the Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo is confident that Russian forces will soon liberate the city of Kherson.

According to him, Russia "has no choice but to once again liberate Kherson and the entire right bank [of the Dnieper River] in the Kherson Region, which is an integral part of the Russian Federation." "I can say with conviction that this is what is going to happen, and it will happen soon," Saldo told TASS.

The acting governor pointed out that Russian troops were staunchly performing their mission to protect the left-bank part of the region. He said that putting an end to Ukrainian shelling attacks on the left bank of the Dnieper, including in the towns of Kakhovka, Novaya Kakhovka, Alyoshki and Golaya Pristan, as well as in their neighboring settlements, was a top priority. "In the short term, we need to liberate Kherson and Berislav and reach the administrative border of the Kherson Region," he added.

On November 9, 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu ordered that Russian troops be pulled from the right bank of the Dnieper River back to the left bank based on a suggestion by Army General Sergey Surovikin, chief of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. Surovikin pointed out that Russian troops were successfully thwarting Ukrainian attacks and one of the reasons for withdrawing was the risk that if areas downstream from the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant got flooded, Russian forces would be isolated. According to him, all civilians who wanted to leave the area - over 115,000 people - were relocated from the right bank. Saldo described the operation to redeploy troops to the other bank of the Dnieper as "a brilliant example of military art" and the evacuation of civilians as "the biggest rescue operation" since the mid-20th century.