However, Ukrainian authorities warned against seeing the withdrawal as a done deal. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that the Russians were faking the withdrawal from Kherson to draw the Ukrainian army into an entrenched battle in the strategic industrial port city. Pulling out of Kherson – a region of the same name that Moscow illegally annexed earlier this year – would pile on another setback after Russia’s early failed attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv. Kherson, with a pre-war population of 280,000, is the only regional capital to be captured by Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine on February 24. Kiev forces have zeroed in on the city and cut supply lines in recent weeks as part of a larger counteroffensive in eastern and southern Ukraine that has pushed Russian troops out of large swaths of ground. Recapturing Kherson could allow Ukraine to regain lost territory in the Zaporizhzhia region and other southern regions, leading to an eventual push into Crimea, which Russia illegally seized in 2014. A Russian retreat is almost certain to increase the internal pressure in the Kremlin to escalate the conflict. Ukrainian troops fire on Russian positions in the Kherson region on Wednesday. (Viacheslav Ratynskyi/Reuters) Speaking sternly and with a steely face on Russian television, Moscow’s top military commander in Ukraine told Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday that it was impossible to supply the city of Kherson and that its defense would be “futile.” General Sergei Surovikin said 115,000 people had been moved because “their lives are constantly in danger” and suggested a retreat to the opposite bank of the Dnipro River from Kherson. Shoigu agreed with Surovikin’s assessment and ordered him to “begin with the withdrawal of troops and take all measures to ensure the safe transport of personnel, weapons and equipment across the Dnipro River.” However, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, Mykhailo Podolyak, said in a post on Twitter: “Actions speak louder than words. We see no signs of Russia giving up Kherson without a fight.” Yaroslav Yanusevych, the Ukrainian-appointed governor of Kherson, urged residents “not to succumb to euphoria” just yet.
Ukrainian resistance in Kherson
As reports emerged of a Russian withdrawal, Zelensky met with his senior military staff in Kyiv to discuss the situation at the front, including efforts to retake territory, his website said without giving details. In addition to the successful counteroffensive, Ukrainian resistance fighters behind the front lines have been working inside Kherson, with acts of sabotage and assassinations of Moscow-appointed officials. On Wednesday, there were reports that the No. 2 official of the Kherson regional government based in Moscow was killed in a car accident. There was no indication of foul play, but it comes on the back of earlier targeting by the referees. WATCHES | The inhabitants of Kherson on life under Russian occupation:
Residents of the Russian-controlled city of Kherson describe harsh conditions
Tens of thousands of residents of the Russian-controlled southern Ukrainian city of Kherson have fled the city since Moscow’s invasion began. Those who remain say there are consequences for defying Russia. Kirill Stremousov — a prominent regional official who posted updates on the war almost daily — died in a crash, according to Russian state news agencies and his boss, Vladimir Saldo. The Russian Defense Ministry reported months ago that Saldo himself was poisoned and hospitalized. In October, Russian military commander Surovikin appeared to be preparing the ground for a possible withdrawal from Kherson, acknowledging that the situation was “quite difficult” for Moscow. Evacuations followed, as did some symbolic movements. The remains of Grigory Potemkin, the Russian general who founded Kherson in the 18th century, were also moved from the city’s St. Catherine’s Cathedral.
HIMARS a game changer
In recent months, Ukraine has used US-supplied HIMARS missile launchers to repeatedly hit a key bridge on the Dnipro at Kherson and a large upstream dam also used as a crossing point. The strikes forced Russia to rely on watercraft and ferries that were also targeted. This severed supply links with Kherson and made Russian forces on the west bank of the Dnipro vulnerable to encirclement. The shortages worsened after a truck bomb blew up on October 8 on part of the strategic Kerch bridge linking mainland Russia with Crimea, which has served as a major supply hub for Russian forces in the south. WATCHES | The explosion marks the Kerch bridge:
The explosion destroys the bridge to Crimea, which is vital to Russia’s war effort
A massive explosion partially destroyed the Kerch Bridge, which links mainland Russia to Crimea and is a key supply artery for the Kremlin’s faltering war effort in southern Ukraine. Russia wanted to hold Kherson and other areas west of the Dnipro so that it could attack Mykolayiv and Odessa and cut off Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea. Such a move would hurt Ukraine’s economy and allow Moscow to build a land corridor to Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, home to a major Russian military base. The loss of Kherson could have painful consequences for Russian President Vladimir Putin: more criticism of Russia’s military leadership from the country’s hawks, a further drop in morale among the armed forces and stronger opposition to his troop mobilization. Abroad, China and India could see this as a sign of Kremlin weakness when it needs their support in the face of crippling Western sanctions.
Russian bombings across Ukraine
The Russian announcement came as villages and towns in Ukraine saw more heavy fighting and shelling on Wednesday. At least nine civilians were killed and 24 others wounded in 24 hours, the Ukrainian president’s office said. It accused Russia of using explosive drones, rockets, heavy artillery and aircraft to attack eight regions in the country’s southeast. Ukrainian and Russian forces also clashed overnight over Snihurivka, a town about 50 kilometers north of Kherson city. The president’s office said widespread Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy system are continuing. Two towns not far from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant were bombed overnight, it said. More than 20 residential buildings, an industrial plant, a gas pipeline and a power line were damaged in Nikopoli, which is across the Dnipro River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Further west, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian governor reported “massive” overnight raids by Iranian-made drone explosions that injured four energy company workers in the city of Dnipro.
