"I
agree with your conclusions and proposals. For us, the life and health
of Russian servicemen is always a priority. We must also take into
account the threats to the civilian population."
"Proceed
with the withdrawal of troops and take all measures to ensure the safe
transfer of personnel, weapons and equipment across the Dnipro River."
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu .. to General Sergei Surovikin
"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."
General Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russian forces in Ukraine
"Apparently, we will leave the city no matter how painful it is to write about it now":
"In simple terms, Kherson can't be held with bare hands."
"Yes, this is a black page in the history of the Russian army. Of the Russian state. A tragic page,"
War Games Blog
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An old woman walks in the Kherson region Much of the Kherson region has
been in Russian control since the early weeks of its invasion. Getty Images |
"They won't let me die in peace. I want to be able to die in peace at the end of my life."
"I have already survived one war. What will happen with the young people? I am done with my life. But they have to carry on."
Mariia Lyrvynova, 92, Kherson
The
slow, steady and powerfully effective advance of the Ukrainian military
forces in their counteroffensive operations are taking their toll on
the mighty Russian army. Who might have foreseen it? Certainly not the
Kremlin when the 'special military operation' swung into force, and
early in the occupation Kherson was the first (and only) major Ukrainian
city to fall under occupation. Plans to carry on and occupy Kyiv didn't
work quite so well, sending Russian troops in disarray, withdrawing to
focus instead on Ukraine's southeast where the Donbas was to be secured.
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Putin speaks at the ceremony in Moscow annexing four regions of Ukraine to Russia in defiance of international law . Photograph: Getty Images |
And
not long afterward, Russian President Vladimir Putin grandly declared
four regions including Kherson were incorporated into Russia "forever",
placing Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk under 'accession
treaties', to be part of the expanding Russian Federation's geography
forever. At the same time the four were placed under Moscow's 'nuclear
umbrella', and any attempts from any source to interfere in Russia's new
areas of sovereign rule would risk a limited nuclear war.
Now,
suddenly, Mr. Putin and his Defence Minister and the general now in
charge of the mission to save Ukraine from itself are concerned over the
danger to civilians -- when the eight-month conflict has already killed
an estimated 40,000 civilians in Ukraine, not to mention the deaths in
conflict of 100,000 Russian servicemen and a like number of Ukrainian
military personnel. Such sanctimonious humanity! An obvious subterfuge
hoping to mask the real chagrin over Russia's failed strategy in
Ukraine.
General
Surovikin never hesitated in his mission of aerial bombardments in
Syria alongside the regime's massive attacks against its Syrian Sunni
demographic rebelling against their servitude to an Alawite Shiite
government that persecuted and terrorized Syria's Sunnis. His statements
of concern over the welfare of Russian soldiers and the region's
population in Kherson has the ring of propagandistic histrionics. For
Russian citizens to feel comforted in the withdrawal announcement, all
in the interests of protecting Russian servicemen and civilians.
The
man that Moscow appointed to oversee the region, Kirill Stremousov was
reviled as a collaborator and traitor by Ukraine. One of the most
prominent figures of the Russian occupation. He denounced in a video
Ukrainian 'Nazis", claiming the Russian military to be in 'full control'
of the situation in the south. Then hours later he was suddenly
involved in a car accident according to Moscow, an 'accident' that
managed to killed the man on Wednesday.
A
span of the Darivka bridge on the main highway east out of Kherson had
collapsed into the Inhulets River, a tributary of the Dnipro.
Ukrainians, posting photographs of the destroyed bridge speculated that
Russian troops blew the bridge up preparatory to a retreat. Not so
Vitaly Kim, the Ukrainian governor of the Mykolaiv region bordering
Kherson whose suggestion was that Ukrainian forces had pushed out the
Russians.:"Russian troops are complaining that they have already been thrown out of there", he stated on his Telegram channel. Russia's war bloggers described the pullout as a bitter blow.
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Vladimir Putin celebrated his annexation of occupied regions but his forces were already on the back foot in Kherson Getty Images |
"[Kyiv was moving] very carefully [following the Kremlin's announcement]."
"The enemy does not give us gifts, does not make 'goodwill gestures', we win it all."
"Therefore,
we are moving very carefully, without emotions, without unnecessary
risk, in the interests of liberating all our land and so that the losses
are as small as possible."
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskii
There
are concerns expressed by Ukraine and by outside intelligence sources
that the Russian military has planned some special 'surprises' for
incoming Ukrainian troops meaning to secure Kherson. Land mines in
place, perhaps a dam upriver destroyed to flood the city. There is no
power, no heating, no internet service in Kherson. Gas stations have no
fuel. There is no medication for cancer and diabetes patients. The local
television centre was blown up by departing Russian troops. Cellphone
towers and energy infrastructure were destroyed.
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Humanitarian aid is distributed in Balakliya following
the retreat of Russian troops from Ukraine's Kharkiv region, on Sept.
11. Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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