Kherson region hostilities are at its turning point. Serhiy Zgurets column

The Russian army retreats from the right bank of the Kherson region.

Today Russia has promoted news that the Russian army is leaving the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region. The commander of the Russian troops in the war in Ukraine, General Surovikin, suggested to the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergei Shoigu, to withdraw the troops in the Kherson region to Dnipro’s left bank. According to the Kremlin, the official motivation is to preserve the lives and health of Russian servicemen. They also voiced their mythical concern for the civilian population. Surovikin complained to Shoigu about the difficulties in supplying Russian forces on the right bank. Shoigu agreed and ordered the withdrawal of Russian troops to the other side of the Dnipro River. Such news forces one to be skeptical of any Russian statements and actions, given all the previous insidious acts on the Russian part. The enemy do not leave anything of their own accord, they do it under the pressure of the Ukrainian army. Front line picture may change. In fact, that is already happening.

Even before Surovikin's speech and the discussion between the two generals (without the participation of Putin, who, by the way, does not want to have any negative consequences in the case of Russian troops withdrawal from the right bank), these two generals seem to have already agreed that they are withdrawing Russian troops. But before that, it was clear that the ongoing hostilities in several directions are forcing Moscow to make such decisions.

It concerns Snihurivka first and foremost, because the entire Internet had been talking about the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army on this particular settlement, and then the Ukrainian flag appeared over one of the buildings in Snihurivka. Snihurivka is the central part of the grouping of Russian troops. And this means that there is every reason for Ukrainian troops to cut the enemy group in half there.

Then came the news that today the enemy destroyed ten bridges on the right bank of Dnipro. The destruction of some of these bridges aligns with the logic that the enemy is trying to delay AFU advance. But some destroyed bridges between Kherson and Nova Kakhovka contradict the logic that it was the Russian army who had destroyed them. I do not rule out the possibility that the link between Kherson and Nova Kakhovka was cut in the course of our counteroffensive, so the enemy couldn’t use it for a retreat. But in any case, we can see that a lot has happened in the last two days that has not been publicized. However, now we know that Russian troops are going to withdraw.

We should remember that when the enemy says it is withdrawing, it means that some part of the troops has already been withdrawn. Part of the rescue operation for the Russian army could have already been implemented. Or it could be the other way around. Under the pressure of the Ukrainian army, no withdrawal of troops is actually taking place due to the fact that all withdrawal routes are destroyed and two centers of encirclement are formed around Kherson and in other combat zones.

It seems that the hostilities in the Kherson region are at their turning point. Keeping the right bank of the Dnipro was critically important for the Russian army and opened up strategic opportunities to attack Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Moldova. That is, this land corridor, which was extremely important to Russia. The enemy abandons this plan with the intention of withdrawing from the right bank. I think we should assume a critical stance towards this information for now. Also, our forces prevail over the entire section of the combat zone on the right bank. We have all the prerequisites to dislodge and finish off the enemy with artillery and ground units. I think that further information should come from the General Staff. Now is an important period of hostilities on the right bank, which will impact the course of all subsequent operations.

The NATO Secretary General said that it is the Ukrainian army that is pressuring the enemy to leave, and not Russian troops retreating of its own accord. We have to wait for further news and data. For me, it is still unclear what exactly is happening in Kherson now. Let's be patient and wait for more information that will allow us to draw objective conclusions.