Trick or retreat: Russia sets trap?

Indications of Kherson exit spark suspicious reaction

They are not leaving right now. They are preparing to defend. Major-Gen Kyrylo Budanov

Russian troops were this week seen withdrawing from Kherson as rumours swirled that Moscow was abandoning the key southern Ukrainian city.

Witnesses said they saw Russian forces dismantling military posts, leaving the city and crossing to the eastern bank of the Dnipro river towards Crimea.

“There are much fewer occupiers in the city,” said one resident, who wished to remain anonymous.

“The roadblocks are being removed and flags were taken.

Yesterday a Russian-installed official in the region said that Moscow’s armed forces were expected to pull out of the city.

“Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left [eastern] bank,” said Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region.

Images have been circulating showing flags being removed from the main administrative building in Kherson city, which was apparently left empty.

But Ukraine warned that the pictures could be Russian disinformation, part of a possible wider feint by the Kremlin to lay a trap for Kyiv’s forces in the battle for Kherson.

“This could be a manifestation of a particular provocation, in order to create the impression that the settlements are abandoned, that it is safe to enter them, while they are preparing for street battles,” said Natalya Humenyuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command.

Humenyuk added that Russia had “been preparing for street battles for a long time” and that we “should not be in a hurry to rejoice”.

“It is necessary to understand that a hybrid war involves such information leaks, attacks that can be calculated to weaken the troops.

“We can see that Russian troops are still staying in Kherson but they now wear civilian clothes,” she said on local television.

“They’re moving to other towns, other than the regional capital, into the houses of the residents who had fled.”

Di, a Kherson resident, described watching convoys of Russian trucks carrying cargo pass by her home in the dead of night, but she added that there were “still soldiers in the city”.

“It seems to me that the removal of the flag is an indicative measure. So that everyone would mistakenly think that the military is leaving the city,” she said.

The head of Ukrainian intelligence warned last week that despite reports that Russia was evacuating the city they were in fact reinforcing it.

“They are not leaving right now. They are preparing to defend,” said Major-General Kyrylo Budanov.

“They are creating the illusion that all is lost.

“Yet at the same time they are moving new military units in.”

Analysts have said the truth is likely hidden by the “fog of war”.

“To me the preponderance of evidence points to a Russian decision to steadily retreat from the [west] river bank and avoid being cut off there, while also trying to exact a high cost,” said Michael Kofman, director of Russia studies at US-based defence research institute CNA.

However, he added that he was sceptical that Moscow would abandon all of its positions voluntarily in Kherson.

Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city captured by Russia at the beginning of the war.

It was one of Moscow’s most important conquests.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed it through sham referendums at the end of September.