In recent days, eyewitnesses in Kherson described scenes of Russian troops dismantling military checkpoints as if preparing to leave the key southern city. Western officials speculated that some Russian military commanders had already moved across the river to the east, effectively leaving “demoralized and leaderless” troops to face a Ukrainian attack. But Ukrainian military officials insisted they do not believe the Russians are voluntarily retreating to the opposite side of the Dnipro, suspecting it could be a ploy to lure Ukrainian troops into an ambush. Instead, Ukraine’s military announced on Friday that around 1,000 newly mobilized Russian troops had arrived in the region.
Kherson of historical value for Putin
The Russian president’s remarks, the first time he has publicly endorsed the evacuation, came after an activist said he had been involved in handing over Russian flags to Kherson. The southern city is of strategic importance given its geography in occupied Crimea and its historical value to Russia and Putin. The surrounding Kherson region connects the peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, with a fresh water supply. It was also one of those annexed to the region, along with Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia, after last month’s sham referendums. As a result, Russian soldiers in the region are expected to be ordered to fight to the death to maintain control of Kherson. Putin announced on Friday that 318,000 men had been drafted into his war in Ukraine, with nearly 50,000 of those conscripts already fighting on the front lines. The Russian president also signed a decree allowing the summons of civilians convicted of serious crimes.
Zelensky: Russia resorts to energy terrorism
Meanwhile, Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow of “energy terrorism” after repeated strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid left more than four million people without power. “The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy terrorism shows the weakness of our enemy. They cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, so they are trying to break our people in this way,” the Ukrainian president said in his late-night speech on Thursday. Last month, Russia stepped up missile and drone attacks on power plants and substations in an attempt to force Ukrainian citizens into submission this winter. Kyiv has been forced to introduce energy-saving measures across the country, with continuous blackouts to save 20 percent of energy now commonplace.
