I get a lot of questions about the Russian retreat.
Why would they announce the retreat before they leave?
Why would they announce it on TV?
Here is what I believe:
The retreat has been going on for weeks.
There is only a small number of troops left east of the river, mostly lower valued units like mobniks and goat lovers. Some will most likely be sacrificed to cover the retreat of the last units
Announcing it on TV gives the Russian leadership a chance to save face. Kadyrov and Prigozhin immediately came with statement saying Surovikin was very brave and that he saved a lot of Russian lives. This announcement was purely for domestic propaganda.
They can now say they saved thousands of russians lives. They did not lose the fight in Kherson, but they decided to leave because fighting against NATO would just be too costly.
As a side note, i think the attack on Kerch bridge played a huge role in this. And it's probably why we see them trying so hard around Pavlivka.
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The Ukrainian general staff reported shellings all along the active frontline. There are also some shellings on the right Bank of the Dnipro in northern Kherson region.
The liberation of Kherson is the result of 3 months of attrition warfare. Continued attacks on the Russian ground lines of communications was at the end too much for Russia. To succeed this this, you also need them to spend ammo and fuel. They spend ammo and fuel during combat.
Kherson
I have 10 settlements I consider being confirmed as liberated today. This is moving pretty fast.
It appears we are about 12-24 hours behind actual events based on rumors yesterday.