Will Cherson be liberated soon? According to Western security circles, Russian troops are preparing to withdraw from the Ukrainian city. They probably decided that “the city wasn’t worth the fight.” The occupiers are also talking about a possible withdrawal. Kyiv remains suspicious.
According to Western security circles, Russia is preparing to withdraw its troops from the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson. The Russians may have decided that “the city is not worth the fight,” a senior Western government official said in a background briefing to journalists. However, it is always possible that the military leadership will change its mind at short notice, even if everything currently points to a withdrawal, he said.
A representative of the region’s administration installed by Russia had previously spoken of a possible withdrawal from the west bank of the Dnipro River. “Most likely, our troops will retreat to the left (eastern) bank,” Moscow-appointed deputy chief of the region’s occupation government, Kirill Stremousov, told Russian state television. Residents who stayed in Kherson “must leave the city towards the left bank as soon as possible,” he demanded. At the same time, Stremouzov claimed that there was no “mass offensive” by the Ukrainians, and that all attacks by the “Ukronazists”, as he calls the Ukrainian armed forces, had been repelled.
At the same time, it became known that the Russian flag has disappeared from the Kherson regional administration. This was reported by the Russian exile medium “Meduza” with reference to the deputy head of the regional council, Yuri Sobolewski. He and other users of social networks published a corresponding photo.
Located on the right bank of the Dnipro, Cherson was captured by Russia at the very beginning of the war of aggression. At the end of September, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin officially annexed Cherson as one of four Ukrainian regions for Russia. At the same time, the situation of the Russian troops west of the river has deteriorated significantly. The Ukrainian troops systematically destroyed the Russian supply routes across the Dnipro and advanced further towards the city in their counter-offensive in early October.
The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence service, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview with the newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda” at the end of October that the Russian occupiers only give the appearance of leaving Kherson, when in reality they are bringing in new military units and defending the city would prepare.
