- cross-posted to:
- ukraine_war_news
- cross-posted to:
- ukraine_war_news
Russia has decided to withdraw its troops from the right bank of the Dnieper River, including the regional capital of Kherson. The Defense Ministry explained that it wants to avoid unnecessary losses among its forces and spare the lives of civilians.
While admitting that the decision is not an easy one, the commanders see little sense in keeping the troops on the right bank, the chief of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, General Army General Sergey Surovikin, told Defense Minister Sergey Schoigu on Wednesday. The general pointed to continued Ukrainian attacks on the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam on the Dnieper River, arguing that it could leave the Russian troops in Kherson cut off from the rest of the force with no way to escape.
A pullout would help save lives of the Russian soldiers and keep the combat effectiveness of the force grouping in the area, Surovikin said.
This is a very difficult decision. Yet, we would be able to preserve the most important thing: lives of our soldiers.
“Start the pullback of forces,” Shoigu told Surovikin in a video released by media outlets. The minister ordered the general to organize secure relocation for both soldiers and civilians.
Over the past weeks, the local authorities have launched an effort to bring as many civilians as possible to the left bank of Dnieper, citing a threat posed by Ukrainian forces located on the opposite side. Over 150,000 people had been moved out of the city as of today, according to Sorovikin.
Russia incorporated Kherson Region last month, after residents voted in a referendum to break away from Ukraine and seek accession to Russia. Kiev rejected the vote as a “sham” and pledged to use military force to recapture all territories it considers to be under its sovereignty.
Depends who you ask. Some of my friends are already burning their chairs with rectal exhaust and say the war has been lost and we should expect a military coup.
Same kind of freak out happened last time Russia pulled back.
True, and the fact that it happened again is one of the reasons for the panic.
Plus the fact that Kherson is now considered Russian territory proper, while Kharkov was not
But what exactly happened, Ukraine didn’t score any military victories, it didn’t take anything strategically important. How does this change the trajectory of the war in any way?
The long term goal Surovikin stateed is the destruction of Ukrainian army through attrition. Letting Ukraine take places like Kherson city seems perfectly in line with that. There is no point wasting people and machinery defending positions just for the sake of saving face.
As horrible as this thought is, this is legitimately the only way any form of a peace can be established. The fighting won’t end with Russia withdrawing, Ukraine needs to be thoroughly demilitarized or else they might just completely wipe out the folks they’ve aleady been targeting in the Donbas. Then again, judging from the car bombs and the bridge explosion we’ve entered a stage where the militias are just openly resorting to terror attacks on Russian civillians.
Agreed, also breaking the will to fight will ultimately mean that Ukraine will accept defeat and Russian terms. This avoids the repeat of Minsk agreements.
They’ve (apparently) forced the RAF on the defensive. In what is now legally Russian territory. While the corridor for weapons and western mercs is very much up and running. Are you sure there’s not point to be concerned?
Most NATO countries are already saying that they’ve sent all they can with US is sending vast majority of what’s still being sent. This is also dwindling with every package being smaller than the last. Not only that, but only 30% of these weapons actually make it to the battlefield in the first place. With Ukrainian electric grid getting dismantled delivering things to the front lines becomes even harder given that most of the trains are using electric locomotives.
Meanwhile, western mercs are hardly coming in numbers that could possibly make a difference. If NATO decides to get involved officially, that would be a different question at that point.
The reality of the situation is that Russia is able outproduce the west in terms of arms manufacturing because the west has been deindustrialized at this point. Russia also has direct rail lines for delivering weapons to the frontline that Ukraine is not able to attack.
Time is on Russia’s side here. The longer this goes the less support Ukraine gets. All of the west is entering a deep economic crisis right now. For example, UK Ministry of Defence source acknowledged that the UK’s financial contribution to the war effort will have dried up by the end of the year.. With republicans getting elected in US midterms, the support for Ukraine will be dropping as well.
So, I’m not really sure what you’re concerned about here specifically. Russia is doing the right thing by pulling back from a city that has no strategic value and conserving resources. Once Ukraine burns out on the current offensive they will be in a worse state than they started, and will have gained nothing of tangible value in the process.
Long game