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It's a significant turn in the war against Ukraine - Russian television announced the withdrawal of troops from Kherson on Wednesday.
It is striking that the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces is missing.
Instead, Putin sends his defense minister and the commander of the armed forces to deliver the message, apparently carefully staged.
Sergey Surovikin, Commander of the Russian Armed Forces:
“Having comprehensively analyzed the situation, I propose that we take defensive positions along the left bank of the Dnipro River.
I understand that this is a very difficult decision.
But at the same time, above all, we will save the lives of our troops and increase the overall combat effectiveness of the troops.«
So you have more troops and equipment for other offensives and generally it is pointless to fight on the right bank, so the commander.
Playing down words for a decision that represents a real disaster for the Kremlin: Cherson is the first and only regional capital in Ukraine that Russia was able to conquer at the beginning of the war.
In addition, Vladimir Putin only declared the city Russian state territory in September and had it annexed in violation of international law.
Nonetheless, Defense Minister Shoigu puts on a good face for a bad game on Russian television.
Sergei Shoigu, Minister of Defense of Russia:
"Proceed with the withdrawal of troops and take all measures to allow the safe transfer of personnel, weapons and equipment across the Dnipro River."
The withdrawal had been announced for a long time.
With the help of Western weapons, Ukraine was able to put up fierce resistance - apparently with success: Russian troops and civilians had been moved to the east bank of the river for weeks.
According to Defense Minister Shoigu, there were 115,000 people.
Recently, even the Russian flags have disappeared from the government buildings in Cherson.
Ukraine initially reacted cautiously to the announcement.
According to an adviser to President Zelensky, the announcements from Moscow and the actions on the ground are sometimes very different.