Western nations are stepping up support for Kyiv amid reports the Kremlin wants to occupy the entire Donetsk and Luhansk regions within weeks.
The recent recapture of Kherson marks a clear decision point for Ukraine. Russian forces are now definitively on the defensive.
With Putin’s forces retreating from Kherson, the US is reportedly pushing Kyiv to do a deal.
The Russian President will be playing for time as he plots his next move in a quagmire of his own making.
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.
The strategic port city is being abandoned just weeks after Putin “annexed” the region following a sham referendum.
No wonder the Russian leader is resorting to mobilisation and nuclear threats. Talk of a mini-Stalingrad in the Kherson Oblast by mid-winter is not far-fetched.
20,000 Russian troops are trapped in Kherson with no means to resupply. Could the battle for Kherson be a Stalingrad-in-the-making?
The loss of Kherson is a bitter blow – it creates a land gate for Russian troops to advance on Odessa and cut Ukraine off from the sea.
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