Ukrainian forces were closing on the outskirts of Kherson city, as Russia said on Thursday it had begun its retreat from the southern city announced the previous day. Hours after claiming the liberation of the key town of Snihurivka, images emerged of relaxed-looking soldiers from Ukraine’s 28th Mechanized Brigade with a Ukrainian flag in Kyslivka, a village just outside Klapaya and about nine miles (15km) from Kherson’s city centre.
On Wednesday the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu had ordered troops to leave Ukraine’s southern city of Kherson, the only regional capital Moscow had captured since the invasion began. The announcement marks one of Russia’s most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war. General Sergei Surovikin, in overall command of the war, called it a “very difficult decision”.
While Russia did not formally declare it was abandoning Kherson, all signs point to a Moscow retreat. “Kherson cannot be fully supplied and function,” Surovikin said. “The decision to defend on the left bank of the Dnipro is not easy, at the same time we will save the lives of our military.” Russia had been preparing its exit for the last month, moving command and control across the river.
Ukraine’s army chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said Kyiv could not yet confirm whether Russia was indeed pulling out of the city, but that Ukrainian troops had advanced seven kilometres (four miles) in the past 24 hours and recaptured 12 settlements.
Ukrainian victory in Kherson will be a significant blow to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, only weeks after a high-profile ceremony in Moscow in which he announced the “forever” annexation of the Kherson region along with three other regions.
Ukraine reacted with caution, saying some Russian forces were still in Kherson and additional Russian manpower was being sent. “Until the Ukrainian flag is flying over Kherson, it makes no sense to talk about a Russian withdrawal,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Joe Biden said Russia’s withdrawal of troops from Kherson was “evidence” that its military had “real problems”. During a White House press conference on Wednesday, the US president said he “knew for some time” it would happen.
Ukrainian media has reported that the Mykolaiv oblast is now free of Russian troops.
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, spoke to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Thursday morning, where they agreed that the Russian withdrawal from the occupied city of Kherson would represent “strong progress” for Ukraine’s forces.
Russia’s loss of Kherson’s west bank will likely prevent its forces from achieving their strategic aspiration of a land bridge reaching Odesa, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. “With limited crossing points, Russian forces will be vulnerable in crossing the Dnipro River,” the latest British intelligence report reads.
The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia’s retreat was “part of an overall pattern” demonstrating that Moscow “has absolutely lost the momentum”. “But we should not underestimate Russia, they still have capabilities,” he told Sky News. “We have seen the drones, we have seen the missile attacks. It shows that Russia can still inflict a lot of damage.”
Russia’s decision to withdraw troops from near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is a positive step, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said.
America’s top general and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, estimates that Russia’s military had seen more than 100,000 of its soldiers killed and wounded in Ukraine, adding Kyiv’s armed forces has “probably” suffered a similar level of casualties in the war. Mark Milley’s remarks offer the highest US estimate of casualties to date in the nearly nine-month-old conflict.
Italy says it has not ruled out new measures to provide further military support for Ukraine but these are not on table at the moment, defence minister Guido Crosetto told Il Messaggero daily.
The US reportedly will not give Ukraine advanced drones in order to avoid an escalation with Russia, according to the Wall Street Journal. Kyiv has pleaded for the weaponry for months. The Biden administration’s decision reflects the limit of the kinds of weaponry Washington is willing to provide for Ukraine’s defence, the WSJ noted.
Putin may only take part in the upcoming summit of the G20 group of nations in Bali via video link, Russian state news agency RIA said on Thursday, citing the Russian embassy in Indonesia. Zelenskiy is also due to appear via video.
The British government said on Thursday it had frozen assets worth £18bn ($20.5bn) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The global dash for gas amid the Ukraine war will accelerate climate breakdown and could send temperatures soaring far beyond the 1.5C limit of safety, analysis has shown. If all of the new gas projects announced in response to the global gas supply crunch are fulfilled, the resulting greenhouse gas emissions would add up to about 10% of the total amount of carbon dioxide that can safely be emitted by 2050.
Police on Jersey have admitted they conducted unlawful searches at premises allegedly linked to Russian businessman Roman Abramovich and have agreed to pay damages and apologise.
The deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in the Kherson region died in a car crash, state news agencies reported, citing local Russian-backed officials. Kirill Stremousov, previously an anti-vaccine blogger and political marginal, emerged as one of the most prominent public faces of the Russian occupation of Ukraine. Putin posthumously decorated Stremousov with the Order of Courage, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Senior UN officials were planning to meet members of a high-level Russian delegation in Geneva on Friday to discuss extending the Ukraine grain deal, a UN spokesperson said. “They will continue ongoing consultations in support of the efforts by the secretary general António Guterres on the full implementation of the two agreements signed on 22 July in Istanbul,” the spokesperson said.
Several European defence ministers said Ukraine should feel under no pressure to enter any peace negotiations with Russia as the war heads towards the nine-month mark at a meeting of the 10 country Joint Expeditionary Forum in Edinburgh on Thursday.
Stoltenberg said Putin made “several huge mistakes” when he invaded, including underestimating Nato’s ability to support Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow had contact with US officials from time to time, and confirmed there would soon be US-Russia consultations on the New Start nuclear arms reduction treaty, the last remaining arms control agreement between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
