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.
