Ukrainians win extraordinary victory in Kherson, says Biden’s aide

White House considers Russia’s pullout from Kherson to be a “quite remarkable thing”, President Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday at a press briefing.

“It does look as though the Ukrainians have just won an extraordinary victory where the one regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back under a Ukrainian flag.  And that is quite a remarkable thing,” he told reporters.

Sullivan added that he was not fully confident that there’s been a complete pull-out of Kherson on the right bank of the Dnipro River.

He also dismissed calls for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be open to peace talks with the Kremlin. 

“As long as Russia holds the position that it simply gets to grab as much territory as it wants by force, it’s hard to see them as a good-faith counterparty in a negotiation, Biden’s official said.

He said that Ukraine is “the party of peace” in the conflict, while Russia is “the party of war.” 

“If Russia chose to stop fighting in Ukraine and left, it would be the end of the war. If Ukraine chose to stop fighting and give up, it would be the end of Ukraine,” Sullivan warned.