In A Major Setback, Russian Troops Started To Retreat From Kherson Region

The Russian army on Thursday started troop withdrawal from Kherson in a major setback, region is a strategic port city in southern Ukraine that Moscow has occupied since February.

Sergei Surovikin, Russia's commander in Ukraine, announced the retreat on Wednesday as a way to save thousands of Russian soldiers.

However, The Ukrainian army said that it could neither confirm nor deny the Russian withdrawal.

Since August, the Ukrainian army has been waging a major counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, reclaiming large swaths of territory and assassinations of pro-Russian officials have also become more common in the region.

Kyiv has been pummeling Russian ammunition depots and supply lines for weeks with high-precision, long-range artillery delivered by the West, including Himars launchers.

“We are carrying out our offensive in accordance with our plan,” Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhny said on Telegram.

Last month, Moscow ordered the evacuation of civilians and the occupation administration from Kherson to the Dnipro River's left bank, where it could consolidate its positions.

Military experts believe that the Russian withdrawal announcement is not a ruse.

“The battle of Kherson is not inherently over,” according to The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in the United States.

“Russian forces have entered a new phase, prioritising the safe withdrawal of their forces across the river and delaying Ukrainian forces, rather than attempting to halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive entirely,” according to the institute. 

The retreat is a huge setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who declared annexed Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions following “referendums,” however, rejected by the international community.

Putin also announced at the Kremlin in September, joining hands with Moscow-installed leaders of the annexed territories, that the lands had joined Russia “forever.”

Without Kherson, Moscow will struggle to press its offensive against Mykolaiv's southern Ukrainian city and Odesa's Black Sea port.

Furthermore, Russia may lose control of the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River, which supplies water to Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014 and Ukrainian troops could also launch long-range artillery from Kherson.

The withdrawal was announced after Russian troops were forced to retreat from the swaths of Kharkiv's northeastern region in September. It could further harm the army's morale, which is already relying on hundreds of thousands of reservists with no combat experience.

In an apparent effort to avoid focusing on the embarrassing development, Russian state-controlled television channels provided minimal coverage of the retreat on Thursday.

In comparison to previous setbacks, the retreat was approved by pro-Kremlin hardliners. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and the founder of the secretive private military group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, have both welcomed the move.

“Surovikin acted like a true combat general who is not afraid of criticism,” Kadyrov said, who has previously criticised the Russian military.

Surovikin, known for his ruthlessness, was named commander of Russia's forces in Ukraine in October, with the goal of turning the tide following a string of battlefield defeats.

The withdrawal from Kherson would allow Russian forces to entrench themselves behind the natural barrier of the Dnipro river, but it would make pursuing an offensive in the region more difficult.

Moscow, which has suffered significant losses, wishes to gain some breathing room in order to equip and train the soldiers who have been mobilised since September.

However, Military experts do not rule out launching a new offensive in the coming year.

On the other hand, US officials have suggested that peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow, which have been stalled since late March, should be restarted.