Life, as the saying goes, is coming at Vladimir Putin fast. Having gleefully announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine barely more than a month ago – even as his army retreated within them – the Kremlin now says it’s withdrawing from the only regional capital city it had captured since invading in February 2022.
The grim announcement that Russia was abandoning Kherson was made by Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, accompanied by Sergei Surovikin, Russia’s latest commander of the war in Ukraine.
President Putin was absent from the proceedings, as is his habit when there’s bad news to report. Even so, putting his top military leaders in front of the cameras was a significant move. It thrust them into the spotlight, making it clear who would be held responsible for further failures. But it was also potentially a rare moment of relative honesty with the Russian populace, marking the first time in the war that an official announcement about a military defeat had been televised.
