On Friday, the Russian president called for the withdrawal of civilians from Kherson in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive as Kyiv and the West struggle to understand whether Moscow is preparing a withdrawal or setting a trap for Ukrainian forces.
“Of course, those who live in Kherson must be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population should not be subjected to bombardments, offensives, counter-offensives and other activities related to hostilities,” Vladimir said. Putin after laying flowers at the monument in honor of National Unity Day.
Shortly thereafter, the Russian Defense Ministry added that units of the Southern Military District “daily transport up to 1,200 vehicles, both trucks and cars, as well as more than 5,000 civilians, to the left bank of the Dnieper.”
“Citizens are strongly advised to leave the right bank of the region and the city of Kherson, since a massive shelling of the regional capital is possible in the near future,” the pro-Russian vice-governor of Kherson also justified today.
Kirill Stremousov simultaneously announced a curfew from 24:00, but eventually changed his mind, emphasizing that “there are no restrictions for city residents.”
“In Kherson, everything is now under the complete control of the military and the police. There is a round-the-clock fight against possible provocations,” Stremousov said.
In October, the pro-Russian Kherson authorities ordered the evacuation of about 80,000 citizens from the right to the left bank of the Dnieper in the face of the approach of Ukrainian troops, and two weeks ago they turned on the regional capital.
This week, the measure was also extended to the left bank of the Dnieper in order to recall another 70,000.
Speculation about Putin’s next moves on this front, where Ukraine has already regained large territories, flared the day before, when Stremousov acknowledged that it would “most likely” be for Russian troops to march “to the left bank,” which would mean abandoning his forces. the fate of the only regional capital in the hands of Russia.
Added to this is the fact that a Kyiv-loyal mayor said that Russian troops had abandoned three checkpoints adjacent to the city and that the Russian flag had disappeared from the regional administration building, which was relocated in late October to Genichesk, tens of kilometers to the south. east, near the Crimean peninsula.
However, the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda assured that the tricolor flag continues to fly in other buildings, such as the Naval Academy in Ushakovo.
But both Kyiv and the West are trying to decipher whether this whole context is actually a retreat or a trap.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov today did not rule out the complete withdrawal of Russian troops to the left bank, declaring it a “goodwill gesture,” as he did in the spring, when he retreated from Kyiv, Sumy and Chernihiv.
However, Reznikov allowed the possibility that this was a “special information-psychological” operation to make Ukraine believe in a false exit and fall into a trap.
The Ukrainian Defense Minister stressed that the rains are currently hindering operations on the ground, but recalled that Russian troops are using irrigation canals in the agricultural area as trenches.
“But I am optimistic about the Kherson operation. I know that we will end this war with the total eviction of all Ukrainian territories,” he stressed.
However, the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW) stressed today that it is “not yet clear” whether Russian troops will defend the city of Kherson.
“We observe that Russian forces continue to prepare positions on the left bank of the Dnieper, while continuing to establish defensive lines northwest of the city and transfer additional deployed forces there,” the report says.
The American Institute recalled that Putin said today that 49,000 mobilized out of a total of 318,000, including volunteers, are already on combat missions in Ukraine, and that he confirmed that “a war against the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv is inevitable.”
Putin also compared the conflict to a civil war because he denies the very existence of Ukraine.
“We took on the responsibility of preventing a much more difficult situation. We remember what happened in 1941 when, despite intelligence reports that an attack on the Soviet Union was imminent, the necessary defensive measures were delayed and we paid a high price for defeat. Nazism,” the President of Russia stressed.
“Yes, it’s not easy now either. It’s difficult and bitter, because the confrontation is taking place inside the village, as it was after the 1917 uprisings: people clashed again” in the civil war, he said.
Putin has repeatedly consulted with Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu about the invasion, Europa Press told Ukraine’s chief intelligence director Vadim Skibitsky.
According to Skibitsky, it was the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for counterintelligence and espionage work, that put pressure on Gerasimov and other military agencies to agree to launch an offensive. .
However, according to the Ukrainian intelligence services, the FSB considered that by the end of February sufficient preparations had already been made to guarantee the success of the Russian Armed Forces in a lightning invasion.
However, according to Kyiv, the Russian General Staff provided the Russian troops with supplies and ammunition for only three days, hoping that the offensive would be swift and immediately successful.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence also emphasized the cooperation of local residents, who always provided the Ukrainian authorities with up-to-date information about the Russian army, such as the number of soldiers or the exact location of troops.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
A Stockholm court on Monday sentenced a former Swedish intelligence officer to life in prison for spying for Russia, and his brother to at least 12 years in prison. In what is considered one of the most serious cases in Swedish counterintelligence history, much of the trial took place behind closed doors in the name of national security.
According to the prosecution, it was Russian military intelligence, the GRU, who took advantage of the information provided by the two brothers between 2011 and their arrest at the end of 2021.
Peyman Kia, 42, has held many senior positions in the Swedish security apparatus, including the army and his country’s intelligence services (Säpo). His younger brother, Payam, 35, is accused of “participating in the planning” of the plot and of “managing contacts with Russia and the GRU, including passing on information and receiving financial rewards.”
Both men deny the charges, and their lawyers have demanded an acquittal on charges of “aggravated espionage,” according to the Swedish news agency TT.
The trial coincides with another case of alleged Russian espionage, with the arrest of the Russian-born couple in late November in a suburb of Stockholm by a police team arriving at dawn in a Blackhawk helicopter.
Research website Bellingcat identified them as Sergei Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova. The couple allegedly acted as sleeper agents for Moscow, having moved to Sweden in the late 1990s.
According to Swedish press reports, the couple ran companies specializing in the import and export of electronic components and industrial technology.
The man was again detained at the end of November for “illegal intelligence activities.” His partner, suspected of being an accomplice, has been released but remains under investigation.
According to Swedish authorities, the arrests are not related to the trial of the Kia brothers.
“They can strengthen their positions. We understand that this can happen. At the same time, we do not rule out that they will announce a general mobilization,” Danilov said in an interview with the Ukrainska Pravda online publication.
Danilov believed that this mobilization would also be convened “to exterminate as many as possible” of Russian citizens, so that “they would no longer have any problems on their territory.”
In this sense, Danilov also reminded that Russia has not given up on securing control over Kyiv or the idea of the complete “destruction” of Ukraine. “We have to be ready for anything,” he said.
“I want everyone to understand that [os russos] they have not given up on the idea of destroying our nation. If they don’t have Kyiv in their hands, they won’t have anything in their hands, we must understand this,” continued Danilov, who also did not rule out that a new Russian offensive would come from “Belarus and other territories.” .
As such, Danilov praised the decision of many of its residents who chose to stay in the Ukrainian capital when the war broke out in order to defend the city.
“They expected that there would be panic, that people would run, that there would be nothing to protect Kyiv,” he added, referring to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine caused at least 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million refugees to European countries, which is why the UN classifies this migration crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). gg.). ).
At the moment, 17.7 million Ukrainians are in need of humanitarian assistance, and 9.3 million are in need of food aid and housing.
The Russian invasion, justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN has presented as confirmed 6,755 civilian deaths and 10,607 wounded since the beginning of the war, stressing that these figures are much lower than the real ones.
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