The message from the Russian president is the latest sign of retreating Kremlin forces in one of Ukraine’s most hotly contested regions. It comes after authorities installed by Russia in the city of Kherson ordered residents to evacuate last month. Moscow’s troops are currently planning a controlled withdrawal to the northwest of the Kherson region, likely in an attempt to avoid destruction as fighting continues. Putin deploys troops with ‘little or no training’ – most recently the war in Ukraine The worsening situation for Russian forces raises questions about whether Ukraine’s military can secure another major victory before the onset of winter. Oleh, the commander of a Ukrainian mechanized infantry unit dug into trenches west of Kherson, is confident that his Russian enemies will be forced out of the strategic port city by worsening weather, logistical waste and the threat of encirclement. But neither he nor his men believe the Russians will leave quickly or quietly, nor do they intend to let them, he told Reuters news agency. “They will continue to fight. They will defend their positions as long as they have the ability to do so,” said Oleh, 26, a battle-hardened general who has risen through the ranks since enlisting as a teenager 10 years ago. “It will be a tough fight.” Read more: The lonely road to Ukraine’s battered Bakhmut region Russians appear on the front line ‘without weapons’ Kherson is the only major city captured by Russian forces since its invasion in February and would be a major prize for defense forces to recapture. For President Putin, it would be another setback after a series of significant battlefield losses since mid-August. Control of Kherson and the west bank of the Dnipro River would give Ukrainian forces a springboard from which to seize a bridgehead on the east side for an advance on Crimea, experts say. Image: Ukraine believes it is an Iranian-made Shahed-136 unmanned drone pictured during a Russian attack Meanwhile, Iran admitted for the first time that it sent the Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones, which Ukraine claims were used in the war. Hossein Amirabdolakhian, the country’s foreign minister, has acknowledged for the first time that his country supplied Russia with these drones. However, he insisted that the transfer took place before Moscow’s war with Ukraine.
