INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
save the lives of our military personnel and the combat capability of our forces," Surovikin said in a clip aired on state
were withdrawing from Kherson."We see no signs that Russia is leaving Kherson without a fight," Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhaylo
Podolyak tweeted, suggesting the announcement could be a ploy and calling the order made by Shoigu a "staged TV statement."The decision to
retreat from Kherson and pull back to the left bank of the Dnipro river comes after months of intense fighting in the area, with Ukrainian
troops making incremental gains against a large Russian force.Advancing Ukrainian forces captured the settlement of Kalininskoye and the
the past months, Russian positions on the right back of the Dnipro have grown increasingly vulnerable, as Ukrainian forces have slowly
announcement to withdraw from Kherson underscores just how much those supply issues were stymying Russian forces, according to Dmitry
20,000 troops over the river will enable Russia to consolidate its defensive lines, Surovikin said, using the vast waterway, which is over a
kilometer wide, to defend its positions
is," William Alberque, director of the arms control program at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told The Moscow
They won't let us surrender - they'll just destroy us," wrote pro-Kremlin war blogger Starshy Eddy, while Chechen ruler Ramzan Kadyrov
military, who now face the challenge of maintaining pressure on Russian forces from across the river in their attempt to drive Russia out of
Ukraine once and for all."A frontal assault in Kherson is going to be really difficult because the Dnipro is such a wide river and it poses
So they're going to have to look more towards the north and the center to find ways to unpick the Russian line," Alberque said, though he
conceded that the liberation of Kherson city would free up thousands of Ukrainian troops to do just that."This is going to free up forces,
back the lines up there."
