Russia’s defense minister and the General in charge of the “special military operation” in Ukraine have jointly announced Russia will be retreating from Kherson.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Wednesday ordered his troops to withdraw from the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson and take up defensive lines on the opposite bank of the River Dnipro.

The announcement marked one of Russia’s most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month.

In televised comments, General Sergei Surovikin, in overall command of the war, reported to Shoigu that it was no longer possible to keep Kherson city supplied.

Here’s part of the announcement with English subtitles. Notice that the focus is on the need to preserve the lives of Russian troops.

Moment Surovikin and Shoygu admit defeat in the Kherson direction and announce the withdrawal of troops. pic.twitter.com/10UZgVuIcm

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) November 9, 2022

If you’ve been following this story recently, you know that there have recently been several reports that Russia was sending newly mobilized soldiers with no training and no equipment to the front lines in eastern Ukraine. One recent report suggested that a batallian of mobiks (as newly mobilized recruits are called) had been brought to the front lines and abandoned by their commanders the moment the shelling started. As many as 500 were reportedly killed with a handful of stragglers surviving to tell their wives and ultimately the world what happened.

Separately, a group of pro-Kremlin journalists wrote a letter criticizing another offensive which resulted in massive losses. That letter was dismissed at first as fake and then authorities reversed course and said there had been some losses but they weren’t bad. So, at this moment, you get the sense that many people, including people who support Russia’s invasion, are angry that so many Russian troops are being killed in large numbers. I think that’s probably why Gen. Surovikin is spinning the Kherson retreat as necessary to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers.

Indeed the larger context here is that Gen. Surovikin claimed that Russia was successfully resisting every attack launched by the Ukrainians in Kherson. It’s only concern for civilians and its troops that is motivating the retreat.

You get a taste of the Russian army's culture of ass-kissing and telling the boss everything's going great from Surovikin's speech.

He claims Russia is "successfully resisting all of the Ukrainian armed forces' attempts to attack near Kherson" – then says they have to retreat! pic.twitter.com/4XnDqzgcRJ

— max seddon (@maxseddon) November 9, 2022

Of course, every word of this is BS. If Russia cared about its troops it wouldn’t be sending untrained mobiks to the front lines with shoddy equipment. What Russia cares about is winning the domestic PR battle. But whatever spin Russia is putting on this, it’s definitely a huge loss. Back in May, Russia promised it would be in Kherson “forever.”

On 6 May, senior Russian politician Andrei Turchak said his country was in Kherson "for ever" pic.twitter.com/sg0hkG91ao

— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) November 9, 2022

They put up big propaganda banners saying the same.

‘Kherson – forever with Russia’ pic.twitter.com/Q4hO9ZmHfb

— Orthodox Canonist (@OCanonist) November 9, 2022

Putin himself said the f-word a few weeks ago when he annexed the region.

Putin says people in southeastern Ukraine now are going to live in "their true historical fatherland."

"I want the Kyiv government and their real bosses in the west to hear me … Residents of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson are becoming our citizens forever." pic.twitter.com/ZXzUuQUXFz

— max seddon (@maxseddon) September 30, 2022

Forever turns out to be about as long as a teen romance, i.e. eight months. That’s assuming that Russia is telling the truth about this withdrawal which Ukraine understands is never a given with any announcement from Russia.

“We have signs they are pulling out,” Colonel Kostenko said. “They blew up bridges that would have allowed our forces to advance. We see them leaving population centers, but in some they leave soldiers behind to cover their movements.”

Ukrainian intelligence agencies were working to assess Russia’s movements, he said, and noted that the announcement could be misdirection from the Russian military.

“We understand it is Russia” making the announcement, he said. “We are watching.”

But there’s one bit of news that makes me think the withdrawal is real. The puppet administrator of Kherson has apparently died in an accident.

⚡️ According to unconfirmed reports, Deputy Head of Kherson "administration" Kirill Stremousov has died in a car crash. pic.twitter.com/l6Z2Tvr1gO

— Dmitri (@wartranslated) November 9, 2022

The Kyiv Post reports his death has been confirmed:

The Moscow-installed deputy head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, has died in a car crash, officials said Wednesday, Nov. 9.

Stremousov, 45, was one of the highest-profile officials in Ukraine supporting Moscow’s offensive.

Stremousov’s aide, speaking to AFP, confirmed his death.

“I confirm the death of Kirill Sergeyevich,” the aide said, referring to Stremousov by his first name and patronymic.

Now that sounds like the real Russia. Looks like his car fell out a window.

Allegedly, these are photos from the scene of the accident of Kherson collaborator Kirill Stremousov🤔 pic.twitter.com/SQdj0xUpHc

— Tarmo 🇨🇿 🇺🇦 🇪🇺 NAFO (@TarmoFella) November 9, 2022

Seriously, what did that car crash into that literally ripped it in half? Anyway, these are the mysteries of life in Russian territory where failure and fatal accidents seem to run together.

The bottom line here is that this is a major loss for Russia. Kherson was the only regional capital they had seized and now they’ve lost it. Should be interesting to see how Kremlin TV attempts to explain this one.

So, Ukraine is just about to retake the only regional capital Russia managed to seize in the full-scale invasion, the biggest European war since WWII.
Things in the Russian military are even worse than what we expected.

— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) November 9, 2022