A Russian commander squirms as he is forced to order troop withdrawal from Kherson in a public humiliation on state TV.
On Wednesday, Putin's puppets announced that the time has come to withdraw their forces from Kherson in southern Ukraine.
General Sergei Surovikin, the war commander of Russia ’s forces in Ukraine previously dubbed 'butcher of Syria', said the lives of Russian soldiers will be saved by the retreat.
Speaking calmly but with his brow deeply furrowed, Russia's Defence Minister General Sergei Shoigu said: "The decision on the defence on the eastern bank of the Dnipro is not easy.
"We will preserve the lives of our soldiers and the combat capability of military formations."
But one key player is noticeably absent and still has failed to speak out on the news of the supposed retreat.
That is Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In what appears to be a profound humiliation to his top brass, Putin wheeled out his two senior military men who seemed upset at reading the news.
This is not the first time the Russian president has deflected criticism of the war towards his generals.
It was only a few weeks ago that Putin announced that Kherson had become part of Russia following sham referendums.
So many say it would severely damage his pride to have to then announce the huge defeat of departing from Kherson.
Putin was seen the same day on television during a state tour of a hospital with no mention of the war just across the border or the retreat.
Shoigu claimed that Ukraine had lost 9,500 soldiers in the battles for Kherson, whilst Russia’s losses were apparently 7-8 times less.
“Actions speak louder than words. Ukraine sees no signs that Russia is leaving Kherson without a fight. A significant part of the Russian troops remain in the city, and additional reserves are being sent into the region,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a social media post warning about the supposed retreat.
On Thursday Podolyak claimed that Russia is booby-trapping the city of Kherson, accusing them of trying to turn it into a “city of death”.
He said that the Russian military “mines everything they can: apartments, sewers” and that “artillery on the left bank” of the Dnipro river “plans to turn the city into ruins”.
Russia’s loss of Kherson’s west bank will likely prevent its forces from achieving their strategic aspiration of a land bridge reaching Odesa, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.
“With limited crossing points, Russian forces will be vulnerable in crossing the Dnipro River,” the latest British intelligence report reads.
