Russia ordered its troops to leave Ukraine’s city of Kherson, the first major regional center seized in its invasion, in a highly symbolic setback for President Vladimir Putin.
With Kyiv’s forces pressing their counteroffensive in the region bordering occupied Crimea, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a televised briefing Wednesday ordered the troops to withdraw from the western bank of the Dnipro River and move to the other shore.
“I understand that this is a very difficult decision,” Sergei Surovikin, the general in charge of Russian forces, told Shoigu in proposing the move. “At the same time, we will save the lives of our servicemen and, in general, the combat capability of the group of troops, which is futile to keep on the right bank in a limited area.”
