Russian Army Is Withdrawing From Another Ukrainian Region: Soldiers 'Preparing For Evacuation'

Certain units of the Russian army are now withdrawing from their positions in the temporarily occupied region of Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukrainian military intelligence.

The Russian army has abandoned the police station and school buildings in the village of Mykhailivka. Moscow's troops are also abandoning the private homes they looted in the city of Polohy and the village of Inzhenerne, as per the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (UAF).

"According to the information available, the Russian occupation troops are withdrawing some units and preparing for the evacuation of the personnel of the occupation administrations of settlements in the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast," the UAF General Staff wrote in its report. "Units based in the local police station and one of the educational institutions left Mykhailivka settlement. In the settlements of Polohy and Inzhenerne, the occupiers leave the houses where they were quartered and take away the stolen property."

In addition to fleeing from its positions, the Russian army is also conducting a census in the settlement of Burchak for a "voluntary evacuation of the population."

The UAF General Staff noted that the Russian army has lost more than 230 soldiers and over 15 pieces of military equipment in the Zaporizhzhia region over the previous days.

Neither the Russian Defense Ministry nor the authorities in Zaporizhzhia have made any comment on the UAF General Staff's report.

Reporting about Russia's possible withdrawal from Zaporizhzhia Oblast comes days after Peter Kotin, president of the national nuclear energy company Energoatom, said that there were signs that Russian troops stationed around the region's nuclear power plant were planning on leaving.

"There have been many reports in Russian media outlets lately about how Russians may have to leave the ZNPP and transfer it to the IAEA's control," Kotin said.

The Kremlin, however, denied Kotin's claims that Russian forces were preparing to leave the plant.

"There is no need to look for some signs where they are not and cannot be," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian state media TASS, as per translation via Google Translate.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant fell under Russian control in March, shortly after Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine.