The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that the “maneuver of the units of the Russian group” had begun on the other side of the Dnipro River. It comes after Ukrainian officials warned that Russia’s announcement of withdrawal from Kherson could be part of a disinformation campaign. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said they had seen no signs that Russia was completely abandoning the city. “Which means these statements may be misinformation.” “Part of the Russian team is being held in the city and additional reserves are being charged into the region. Ukraine is liberating territory based on intelligence evidence, not staged TV statements,” he said. The Russian military said on Wednesday it will withdraw from the only Ukrainian regional capital it has captured. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said he had ordered Russian troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro river in the face of Ukrainian attacks near the southern city. The announcement marks one of Russia’s most significant concessions and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month. In a video address overnight, Zelensky did not directly comment on Russia’s withdrawal announcement, saying only that: “Our emotions must be restrained — always during war. I certainly will not feed the enemy all the details of our operations […] when we have our result, everyone will see it.” In recent months, Kiev forces have zeroed in on Kherson, a city with a population of 280,000 before the war. They have cut supply lines in recent weeks as part of a larger counteroffensive in eastern and southern Ukraine that has pushed Russian troops from large swaths of ground. In addition to the largely successful counteroffensive, Ukrainian resistance fighters behind the front lines have been working inside Kherson, sabotaging and assassinating officials appointed by Moscow. Recapturing Kherson could allow Ukraine to regain lost territory in the Zaporizhia region and other southern regions, including Crimea, which Russia illegally seized in 2014. A Russian retreat is almost certain to increase domestic pressure on the Kremlin to escalate the conflict. Yaroslav Yanusevych, the Ukrainian-appointed governor of Kherson, urged residents “not to succumb to euphoria” just yet. Another Ukrainian-appointed Kherson regional official, Serhii Khlan, told reporters that Russian forces blew up five bridges to slow Kiev’s forces. Military analyst Oleg Zhdanov said Russia’s announced retreat “could very well be an ambush and a Russian trap to force the Ukrainians to go on the offensive, to force them to penetrate Russian defenses and in response to a heavy blow by the ribs .”
