Russian troops withdraw from Kherson and Putin suffers another military defeat. But maybe he already has a new strategy.
Cherson – The southern Ukrainian city of Cherson was the first major city to fall to Russian troops in the Ukraine War and was the only district capital to remain under Moscow control for months. But the Ukrainian troops managed to push back the Russian armed forces in their counter-offensive – also with overpowering artillery thanks to western arms deliveries. On Friday (November 11) Ukrainian troops returned to the city, and the remaining residents reportedly hoisted Ukrainian flags and honked their horns in celebration. Vladimir Putin, however, remained silent. But apparently the Kremlin boss is now pursuing a new strategy.
Russian troops could not hold Cherson – and withdraw
The US security expert Fiona Hill is considered a Putin expert. She attacked in a recent interview with the magazine political the anecdote that the head of the Kremlin apparently likes to tell about himself. It’s about an experience that the Russian President had as a child. In the apartment building in Leningrad where he lived at the time, he is said to have tried to catch a rat. When she was locked in a corner, she jumped out and fought back, which surprised him. “He tells this story like it’s a story about himself, that if he’s ever cornered, he’ll always fight back,” Hill concluded at the time. One of Putin’s trademarks is that he always chooses the more extreme option from a variety of options.
As recently as September, Putin had forbidden his generals from withdrawing from Cherson, thereby putting numerous lives at risk. But now the head of the Kremlin has decided to give up Cherson. This shows his willingness to make tactical concessions when his back is against the wall. “It is wrong to say that Putin never backs down or backs down. This shows once again that Putin can be pragmatic,” political scientist Tatiana Stanovaya told the British newspaper The Guardians. “It was clearly a very emotional decision for him, but he made it. He can be rational.” From the point of view of experts, the Cherson decision also points to a decisive change in strategy.
Withdrawal from Kherson points to new strategy of Putin: “Prolonged conflict with the West”
Cherson is important for strategic reasons, the water supply for Crimea comes from there, and with the loss of the region for Russia, the land bridge to Crimea is in danger – depending on how far Ukrainian troops push back the attackers. At the beginning of October, Moscow declared Cherson its territory in violation of international law. With an indirect approach, the Ukrainian military managed to largely cut off supplies and supplies for the Russian army on the right bank of the Dnipro, making the region untenable for the Russian army.
Information from an insider told the British newspaper The Guardians now suggest that Putin may be pursuing a new strategy. A former high-ranking official in Russia’s Defense Ministry wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, but told the British newspaper that Putin intends to “freeze” the conflict. At the same time he wanted to regroup and train his battered army and the large number of newly mobilized soldiers. “Putin is in no hurry. He sees this as a protracted, large-scale conflict with the West,” the former official continued. “He’s an opportunist by nature. His strategy now is to see how things stand until the end of winter and then reassess the strategy.”
Putin is apparently also bringing hardliners Kadyrov and Prigozhin on board
From the insider’s point of view, the reaction of nationalist forces in Putin’s ranks, above all Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, was also striking. Because both spoke of a “difficult but necessary decision”. This is remarkable in that the two hardliners had previously repeatedly criticized the Kremlin.
“This time the Kremlin clearly coordinated this retreat with the aggressive Prowar elements within the elites. Putin didn’t want to see any more public division,” the insider from the Russian Defense Ministry told the The Guardians. However, there were also critical voices from Russia. “Kherson has surrendered. If you don’t care, then you’re not Russian […]’ said the nationalist Alexander Dugin, demanding that the war must ‘become a people’s war in the full sense of the word.’ Officially, there is still talk of a ‘military special operation’ in Russia.
Putin himself toured a neurological hospital in Moscow on the day Russia announced its withdrawal from Kherson — without mentioning a word of the decision. For this he sent the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the commander of the Russian armed forces, General Sergei Surovikin.
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