Russia withdraws from Kherson: “Kherson is ours”, says Zelensky | War Ukraine and Russia

The Ukrainian army has entered Kherson, the important city in the south of the country, after the withdrawal of Russian troops. That’s what the Ukrainian Defense Ministry says. “Kherson is back under control of Ukraine. Units of the Ukrainian army are moving into the city,” the ministry said in a press release shared on its Facebook page.

The ministry also called on Russian soldiers still on the scene to “surrender immediately”. It promised “to spare their lives” and “safety”. Ukrainian President Zelensky says Kherson is “ours” after Russia’s withdrawal from the city earlier today. “Our people. From U.S. Kherson,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram alongside an emoji of the Ukrainian flag and video footage that appears to show Ukrainian troops gathering with residents of the city.

Look. President Zelensky: “We are returning to the south of our country, to Kherson”

After the withdrawal of Russian troops, remaining residents celebrated the end of the occupation with Ukrainian flags and car horns. In the center, residents welcomed the first Ukrainian troops with applause and hugs, according to photos and videos posted on social media. Some cried with happiness.

The Russian military has also confirmed that the withdrawal from Ukraine’s Kherson region has been completed. “At 5 o’clock Moscow time (3 o’clock Belgian time), the redeployment of Russian soldiers’ units to the left bank of the Dnieper River was completed,” it said. There were no casualties, the ministry said. “In total, more than 30,000 Russian soldiers and nearly 5,000 units of armaments and military vehicles have been withdrawn” from the western bank of the Dnepr, the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

According to the British Ministry of Defense, Russian troops have demolished several bridges and probably also laid mines during their withdrawal. Ukrainian media reported on Thursday that Russian troops destroyed the city in southern Ukraine. In addition to the television center, heating installations and radio masts have been blown up. Footage shows Russian soldiers fleeing Kherson. Resistance fighters have also affixed the Ukrainian flag to a statue at a government building in the city.

The Russian army has thus withdrawn from an area that Moscow considered part of Russian territory after its annexation five weeks ago and which Putin threatened to defend “with all available means”, even with nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, Russia has lost half of the territories it has conquered since the invasion. Since Kherson, the only Ukrainian provincial capital that Moscow was able to control, has now also been evacuated.

LOOK. Russians move out of important city of Kherson

The Russian president deftly juggles through successive fiascos. Such debacles would stagger other leaders, but not Putin. Due to his strong grip on the media, he always manages to sell setbacks in Ukraine to his people as necessary and right steps, the German newspaper states.Die Welt‘ fixed.

For weeks, the Russians have been preparing for this withdrawal. Just days before the announcement by Russian commander Sergei Surovikin, the independent Russian news site ‘Meduza’ reported on Putin’s administration’s guidelines on how the withdrawal should be communicated to the media. The tenor: focus on protecting the soldiers and the population.

The state media now meekly follows this pattern. On Wednesday’s main news program, Putin only made his appearance as the fifth item, on a decidedly peaceful topic – his visit to a clinic in Moscow.

In the news program on the Russian state broadcaster ‘Pervyi Kanal’ Wednesday evening the withdrawal from Kherson was presented as a “regrouping”. State television only showed Russian commander Sergei Surovikin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu announcing the withdrawal live on Wednesday. That move, undoubtedly supported by Putin himself, is presented as a purely military decision – and the responsibility of the head of state is not even mentioned.

Concerned for the “life and safety of the soldiers and civilian population,” Surovikin proposed a “regrouping” and Shoigu agreed, the state television report said.

Strikingly, a similar message is also delivered by the two loudest hardliners of the Putin regime: the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the Wagner group.

Just a few weeks ago, they openly criticized the military leadership for the defeats in Ukraine; now they seem to support Surovikin and Shoygu in unison – at least towards the outside world.

“Surovikin must rescue thousands of soldiers,” Prigozhin wrote on his Telegram channel. The commander had acted “like a man who takes responsibility”. He has done this “without fear and in a well-organized manner”.

Kadyrov agrees with Prigozhin: Surovikin had made a “difficult but right decision” and thereby saved the lives of soldiers. Surovikin had acted “sensibly and prescient” by evacuating the civilian population beforehand.

Most military bloggers are currently not speaking out. Maybe they don’t dare. After all, anyone who criticizes the withdrawal could be prosecuted for “discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation”. Silence is golden. Still.

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