The withdrawal of some 30,000 Russian troops from the city of Kherson is the third major withdrawal of Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine in February, and some pro-war Russian officials described it as a humiliation for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president. However, prominent Russian military bloggers supported Russian military commanders and said the withdrawal makes tactical sense. “Don’t panic,” said Vladlen Tatarskiy, who has more than half a million subscribers on the Telegram social media channel. “It was a maneuver to move troops into prepared defensive lines … observers can see the ‘dragon’s teeth’ and fixed bunkers built into the left bank.”
Thousands of men “dig trenches”
Russian media reports said the Russian military sent thousands of the 300,000 men mobilized in September and October to dig trenches along the Dnipro River, which is several miles wide in places. Ukrainian officials have said they plan to push to retake all of Ukraine held by Russia since 2014, including Crimea south of Kherson, but analysts have warned that this will be difficult as the Russian military prepares its defensive line using the Dnipro River. Ben Wallace, the British defense secretary, supported this analysis. “History reminds us that Russia can be extremely cruel to its own people, and if they need more cannon fodder, they will find it,” he told reporters. In the city of Kherson, people continued to celebrate their liberation by gathering in the city’s central square.
