Updated with Peskov's , Kyiv's remarks.Russias Defense Ministry on Monday announced a partial withdrawal of troops in southern Ukraines Kherson region, only to then dismiss its own statement disseminated through state media as a provocation.Russias state-run news agencies TASS and RIA Novosti published the Defense Ministry statement on the regrouping of troops to the left bank of the Dnipro River.Having assessed the situation, the command of the Dnipro grouping decided to move its troops to more favorable positions east of the Dnipro [River], the Russian military was quoted as saying.After the regrouping, Dnipro will release some of its forces which will be used for the offensive, it added.Minutes later, the announcement disappeared from the TASS and RIA Novostis social media pages.TASSsaid the story was annulled because it was published mistakenly.
RIA made no mention of the removal.The distribution of a false report about the regrouping of troops near Dnipro allegedly on behalf of the Russian Defense Ministrys press center is a provocation, Russias RBC business news websitereported, citing the Defense Ministry.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later on Monday declined to comment on the retracted withdrawal announcement, redirecting reporters' questions to the Defense Ministry.Ukraine's National Resistance Center told the RBC Ukraine news website that reports of Russian forces regrouping were an information operation against Kyiv, saying that it had not received any information about the movements of enemy fighters.The Russian military sometimes uses the termregrouping to describe what amounts to a battlefield retreat, such as when its troops completely withdrew from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson in November last year.Moscow on Friday claimed thatits forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to forge a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro River amid earlierreports that Kyiv's military had sent military attachments and armored vehicles across the river.The United States -based Insitute for the Study of War said Sunday that Russian units deployed on the left bank of the Dnipro River werelikely currently engaged in defending against larger-than-usual Ukrainian operations.Kyiv launched a major counteroffensive in the south and east in June but the front line has barely moved and the two sides have continually bombarded each other with heavy weaponry.