Russians withdraw from Kherson, sole regional capital captured in Ukraine invasion

Russia’s military has been ordered to pull out of the Ukrainian city of Kherson – the only regional capital captured since the invasion began in February.

Russia’s commander in Ukraine, General Sergei Surovikin, said it was no longer possible to keep supplying the city.

The withdrawal means Russian forces will pull out entirely from the western bank of the River Dnipro, dealing the invaders a significant blow as Russia faces a Ukrainian counter-offensive.

“In these circumstances, the most sensible option is to organise the defence along a barrier line along the river Dnipro,” Gen Surovikin told a meeting of senior military leaders.

The announcement came shortly after Russian media said the deputy leader of Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, had been killed in a car crash. Seen as one of the main supporters of the occupation of Kherson, he had warned only six days ago that it was “most likely” that Russian forces would have to cross to the eastern bank.

Kherson, which before the war had a population of about 380,000, is on the banks of the Dnipro river, near the Black Sea coast. It is also close to the Crimean peninsula – a part of Ukraine which Russia annexed in 2014 and which contains a number of its military bases.

As a gateway to Crimea, recapturing Kherson would pave the way to reconquering Crimea, which Ukraine aims to do in this war. The Dnipro river is also important because it runs right into the centre of Ukraine.

Kherson is the only one of Ukraine’s regional capitals to have fallen to Russian forces.

Russia took it in early March and recently declared it had annexed the Kherson region, along with three other regions in Ukraine.

Recapturing the city would send a message that the war is turning in Ukraine’s favour.

Russia’s forces have been under huge pressure to defend Kherson. They lost 6,000sq km of territory to Ukrainian forces during their counteroffensive in the east of the country.