Russian military announces withdrawal from key city of Kherson

The Russian military has announced a withdrawal from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and surrounding areas, in what will be another in a series of humiliating setbacks for Moscow’s forces in the eight-month-long war.

Ukrainian authorities did not immediately confirm the move – President Vladimir Zelensky has suggested in recent days that the Russians pretended to withdraw from Kherson to lure Ukrainian troops into a stubborn battle.

Mr Zelensky called trying to persuade civilians to go deep into Russian-held territory a “theatre”.

Russia’s top military commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovkin, reported to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday that it was impossible to deliver supplies to the city of Kherson and other areas on the west bank of the Dnieper where it is located.

Mr Shoigu agreed with his proposal to retreat and set up defenses on the east bank.

The withdrawal of troops from the eponymous region of Kherson, which was illegally annexed by Moscow, would be another major setback.

The city with a pre-war population of 280,000 is the only regional capital occupied by Russian forces since the invasion began on February 24.

Ukrainian troops have targeted the strategic industrial city, which sits on the Dnieper River, separating the region and the country itself.

During the summer, Ukrainian forces launched a relentless attack to retake parts of the province.

More than 70,000 residents and members of the Kremlin-established local government were evacuated in late October, according to Moscow-appointed officials, although Ukrainian officials have disputed that claim.

The remains of Gregory Potemkin, the Russian general who founded Kherson in the 18th century, were also reportedly removed from the city’s St. Catherine’s Church.

Parts of the city and surrounding area were occupied in the early days of the conflict as Russian troops pushed their offensive north from Crimea – an area the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.

In recent months, Ukraine has used U.S.-supplied HIMARS rocket launchers to repeatedly hit an important bridge over the Dnieper River in Kherson and a large dam upstream, which is also used as a border crossing.

The strikes have forced Russia to rely on pontoons and ferries, which are also targeted by Ukraine.

Russia’s announcement came amid more intense fighting and shelling in Ukrainian villages and towns on Wednesday.

At least nine civilians were killed and 24 others wounded in 24 hours, the Ukrainian presidential office said.

It accused Russia of using explosive drones, rockets, heavy artillery and aircraft to strike eight regions in the country’s southeast.

Ukrainian and Russian troops also clashed overnight in the small town of Snihurivka, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of the southern city of Kherson.

Russia’s widespread crackdown on Ukraine’s energy system continues, the president’s office said.

It said two cities not far from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant were shelled overnight.

In Nikopol, which is separated from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant by the Dnieper River, more than 20 residential buildings, an industrial plant, a gas pipeline and a power line were reportedly damaged.

Further west, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the Ukrainian governor reported a “massive” night strike by Iranian-made drones, injuring four energy company workers in the city of Dnipro.

“The attack on civilian infrastructure is itself a war crime. The Kremlin is at war with Ukrainian civilians, trying to freeze millions in winter without water and light (for them),” Governor Valentin Reznitchen Ko said on Ukrainian television.