The main event of Wednesday is the decision publicly announced by the Russian military command to withdraw combat units in the Kherson region from the right bank of the Dnieper, that is, to leave the regional center of Kherson (officially the Russian city according to the recent amendments to the Russian Constitution). At a meeting between Defense Minister Shoigu and the Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces in the zone Surovikin made this decision.
According to him, «Kherson and adjacent settlements can not fully supply and function, people’s lives are constantly in danger». However, the Kakhov dams continue to be bombarded by the Armed Forces. This could provoke flooding that would entail many casualties.
The danger is that the troops on the right bank of the Dnieper can be blocked if they are not withdrawn.
In Kherson itself is sparse, there are almost no people on the streets, most of the shops are closed. As Surovikin noted in his report, more than 115,000 people were able to leave the region. The withdrawal of civilians from Kherson continues even now. So, more and more residents are arriving in the safe zone. Some have already settled in a new place. They have been provided with all the necessary conditions: multiple meals, kindergartens and schools for children, employment assistance, a special programme to obtain housing certificates.
In the conditions of constant attacks on crossings across the Dnieper, the supply of the group on the right bank is extremely problematic. Ukrainian generals, such as Lieutenant General Mikhail Zaborodsky, First Deputy Head of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, former commander of the ATO, also said that it would be right for the Russian army to leave from the right bank from a purely military point of view.
“Why do we need this bridgehead? The reason may be the use by the opponent of «released» troops from the right bank in the other operational direction. In addition to the use of all the advantages of defence on a large water obstacle, there remains opposition to the economic use of the Dnieper by Ukraine in the lower reaches as a transport route and guaranteed control of the hydraulic structures of the North Crimean Canal”, – said General Zaborodsky.
