Russian military commander withdraws troops from Kherson

Europe, News November 10, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

Russia’s military commander for operations in Ukraine, Gen. Sergei Surovikin, has ordered his troops to withdraw from Kherson, the only regional capital that Russia captured after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Surovikin said that it is no longer possible to keep up the supplies for troops stationed at Kherson. The withdrawal is a result of the strong counter-offense being put up by the Ukrainian forces in recent times. After withdrawal, no Russian forces would be present on the western banks of the River Dnipro.

After being advised by Gen. Sergei Surovikin, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River on November 9, 2022. The announcement marks Russia’s most significant retreat that is expected to act as a turning point in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Shoigu announced in a televised statement that he has proceeded with Gen. Surovikin’s advice about the withdrawal of soldiers. Surovikin also appeared on television to state that it was “not an easy decision to make” but explained that it was no longer possible to maintain supplies in Kherson city.

Surovikin said that he has suggested setting defensive lines on the Eastern banks of the river. “We will save the lives of our soldiers and fighting capacity of our units. Keeping them on the right (western) bank is futile. Some of them can be used on other fronts,” he said during his televised statement.

^{Russian Air Force General Sergey Surovikin attends a meeting on military aviation chaired by President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia on May 15, 2019. (Image Credit: Sergey Guneev/Sputnik via AP)}

The announcement about withdrawal from the Kherson came only a few hours after the Russian-appointed deputy head of Kherson Kirill Stremousov died in a car crash. Tass news agency reported his death without giving much details about the incident. Lately, Stremousov had been urging the residents of Kherson to evacuate the western banks of River Dnipro in the face of Ukraine’s intensive counter-offense attacks.

Ukrainian administration has also reacted to the news of Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson; however, Kyiv took a cautious approach in dealing with the situation.

A senior advisor to Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podolyak released a statement regarding the announcement saying that it was too early to talk about Russia’s pullout from Kherson. “Until the Ukrainian flag is flying over Kherson, it makes no sense to talk about a Russian withdrawal,” Mykhailo Podolyak said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces disabled key bridges for the supply of Russian forces by using the arms delivered by the West, in particular American HIMARS rocket systems. The main bridge that connects the eastern and western banks of Kherson, the Darivka bridge, was blown up earlier making it harder for Russian forces to keep up the supplies in the western banks. Difficulty in maintaining supplies was also quoted as the main reason behind the recent withdrawal.