Southern front on 10 November 2022: Snihurivka retaken, Kherson in sight
A look back at the day Ukrainian forces cleared Mykolaiv Oblast of Russian-held cities and closed in on Kherson.
What did the southern front look like on 10 November 2022, a day after Russian forces announced a retreat from Kherson? The answer lay in two advances that reshaped the map of the region.
The Ukrainian military said it had recaptured Snihurivka in Mykolaiv Oblast, described as the last remaining city in the oblast controlled by Russia. That claim mattered for the region's administration: Mykolaiv Oblast no longer had a Russian-held city within its borders.
On the same day, Ukrainian troops retook the village of Kyselivka, putting them within nine miles of the centre of Kherson. Explosions were reported near the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant.
The backdrop
The advances were part of the counteroffensive that Ukraine had launched on 29 August 2022 to expel Russian forces from the occupied southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts. By 10 November, the effort had run for more than two months.
On 9 November, Russian forces had announced a retreat from the city of Kherson, the western bank of the Dnieper River in Mykolaiv Oblast, and the western part of Kherson Oblast. The Ukrainian gains of 10 November came against that announcement, with Ukrainian units closing in on the city as the Russian withdrawal was declared.
Occupation structures
The announcement coincided with a blow to the occupation administration. On 9 November, Russian officials said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Kherson military–civilian administration, had been killed in a car crash while travelling to Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree posthumously awarding him the Order of Courage.
What the day showed
Taken together, the reports of 9 and 10 November showed a retreat announced by Russian forces, a Ukrainian claim to have cleared Mykolaiv Oblast of Russian-held cities, and troops positioned close to Kherson itself. For the region's governance, the immediate question was the future of the western part of Kherson Oblast, which Russian forces had said they would leave.
