Builders work to demolish the remains of a house destroyed by a Russian missile
(Picture: Getty Images)Russian authorities are “seriously considering” a major withdrawal of forces in a key area of Ukraine, British defence chiefs have said.
The Ministry of Defence believes Kremlin-aligned troops will retreat from the area west of the Dnipro river in the country’s south.
On Thursday morning, the ministry tweeted: “[On Wednesday], the recently appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, told Russian media that a difficult situation has emerged in the Kherson area. He endorsed the previously announced plans of the occupation authorities to evacuate the civilian population.”
The admission of the “difficult situation” is unusual from Russian authorities and “it likely indicates that [they] are seriously considering a major withdrawal of their forces from the area west of the Dnipro river,” the statement added.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 20 October 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 20, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/LeQsOOjVXy
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/rHzlFrXAJU
It continued: “A key challenge of any Russian withdrawal operation would be extracting troops and their equipment across the 1000m wide river in good order.
“With all the permanent bridges severely damaged, Russia would highly likely rely heavily on a temporary barge bridge it completed near Kherson in recent days, and military pontoon ferry units, which continue to operate at several locations.”
However, Kirill Stremousov, one of the Russian-imposed leaders in occupied Kherson posted on Telegram that Ukraine was losing morale and running out of troops in the south.
The Moscow-backed self-appointed officials in Kherson have reportedly begun moving civilians into Russian territory.
Kremlin-loyal Vladimir Saldo, who has put himself in charge in the southern city, spoke of plans to move up to 60,000 people across the Dnipro River.
He said on Wednesday: “We are not going to surrender the city.”
