Military expert Oleg Zhdanov commented on the false information about the retreat of Russian troops from

in the Kherson region and explained why it is so important for Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin not to lose this city.  

Zhdanov emphasized that there is a counter-battery fight in the Kherson direction, the invaders continue to shell the right bank of the region.

"The strategic importance of Novaya Kakhovka for the Russian Federation - they will fight for it to the last. There will be an order to fight to the death, not to retreat anywhere and not to surrender anything. Kakhovka HPP regulates the water level in the reservoir and due to this water level, the North Crimean Canal is filled, it begins directly from the Kakhovskaya HPP dam. And the North Crimean Canal is water to Crimea, this is what Putin dreamed of for eight years, until he launched a massive armed invasion of Ukraine," the expert explained.

He also recalled that when the occupiers took Nova Kakhovka, they literally blew up the dam in the first week, opened the floodgates and let water into the North Crimean Canal.

Thanks to this, a good rice harvest was harvested in Crimea last year - the rice fields were filled with water from the Kakhovskaya HPP.

Zhdanov also noted that if the Armed Forces of Ukraine go to Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, they will simply cut off the supply routes of the occupiers.

We will remind you that

, located in the left-bank Kherson region.

And before that, they robbed the local population, stealing household appliances and valuables. 

In the same evening, the Ukrainian command denied its previous statement, explaining that it was an "incorrect use of available data".

The spokeswoman of the Southern Defense Forces Nataliya

She emphasized that after some units of Putin's army left Novaya Kakhovka, others entered the settlement. 

Read also:

• Ukraine news

• War in Ukraine

• News of Ukraine: video