MOSCOW, Oct  4, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Russia's forces occupying Ukraine's

southern Black Sea region of Kherson have suffered serious territorial losses
to Kyiv's troops over recent days, maps published by Moscow's defence ministry
showed Tuesday.
       
The maps included in Tuesday's daily military briefing showed that Russian
forces were no longer in control of the village of Dudchany on the west bank of
the river Dnieper, where Ukraine's forces have been pushing to reclaim
territory captured at the start of Moscow's offensive.
      
 In the northeastern Kharkiv region, defence ministry maps showed that
Russian forces have left positions on the west bank of the Oskil river, in the
aftermath this month of a counter-offensive by Kyiv's army.
      
 The Ukrainian military claimed in a statement Tuesday that Russian forces
in Kherson are "demoralised" and were falling back on their positions,
destroying ammunition depots and bridges in their wake.
      
 "All this in order to slow down the offensive of our troops," the defence
ministry said in their statement.
      
 Ukraine's deputy interior minister Yevhen Enin said Tuesday that Ukraine's
forces had recaptured 50 towns and villages in Kherson, without specifying when.
       
Kyiv's forces have been slowly clawing back territory in Kherson for
several weeks but the advance has accelerated in recent days.
      
 With a population of one million before the war, Kherson is a key
agricultural area and forms the gateway to the Crimean peninsula.
       
Its main city, also named Kherson, was one of the first to fall to Russian
forces after they launched what the Kremlin calls its "special military
operations" in February.
       
The Kremlin last week formally annexed the region along with three others
even though Russian troops do not fully control it.