MOSCOW-Russia ordered its troops to withdraw from the city of Kherson in southern Ukraine on Wednesday in a further major blow to its campaign amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Officials in Kyiv reacted with caution, saying the Russian army was unlikely to leave the strategic city without a fight, while US President Joe Biden suggested the retreat was evidence Moscow has “real problems” on the battlefield.
“Begin to pull out troops,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a televised meeting with Russia’s commander in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin.
The commander had proposed the “difficult decision” of pulling back from the city and setting up defences on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Kherson city was the first urban hub captured by Russia during its “special military operation” and the only regional capital controlled by Moscow’s forces since the offensive began on February 24.
Russia’s Kherson withdrawal shows its military has ‘real problems’: Biden
US President Joe Biden said Wednesday that Russia’s withdrawal from the strategic Ukrainian city of Kherson showed Moscow has “real problems” in the war. “It’s evidence of the fact that they have some real problems, Russia, the Russian military,” Biden told reporters in Washington.
Biden spoke after midterm elections in which his Democratic Party looked set to narrowly lose control of the House of Representatives to the Republicans, some of whom have vowed to review US military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. “In the area of foreign policy I hope we’ll continue this bipartisan approach of confronting Russia’s aggression in Ukraine,” Biden added.
Russia ordered its troops to withdraw from Kherson in a major blow to its invasion amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive.