The decision of the Russian military to voluntarily evacuate and abandon the city of Kherson is a military defeat on the Ukrainian front lines. At the same time, it seems to be an intelligent measure, necessary to avoid a bloody battle with 30,000 Russian troops trapped in an isolated city with 200,000 civilians, and to wind down the war escalation..
ria.ru from Donbass Insider via thefreeonline
Russia made the hard choice, Kherson city is on the majority Ukrainian right bank, (left side on maps) most of the 115,000 voluntarily evacuated citizens are ethnic Russians, who faced a bloody siege from the fascist dominated Ukrainian troops and reprisals for voting to join Russia .
Putin’s clever Gambit Winds down the War.
In a surprise move Russia just pulled out. Evacuating their entire army, and the last civilians who wished to come, across the river under heavy fire in a single night without casualties
A shocking surrender? Yet it was in line with their pragmatic policy of avoiding mass deaths.
All units of the Russian troops in the Kherson region crossed at night to the left bank of the Dnieper River despite Ukraine’s attempts to disrupt the withdrawal, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
Every media outlet in Ukraine and the West began gloating and mocking over a “Massive Russian Defeat”.
Russia maintains control of most of the large Kherson oblast which is on the left bank eastern side of the Dnieper river.
Ukraine couldn’t believe it, declaring Russia must be setting a trap. The USA declared Russia was lying.
Russia announced, amazingly, that they had evacuated voluntarily over 115,000 people, and now all their 30,ooo troops, under intense attacks from Ukrainian and US precision artillery, with zero casualties in the final phase.
Some advantages f0r Russia could be:
- No need to defend an indefensible city against an enemy equipped with fast improving US and EU supplied weaponry and logistics.
- Saving over 100,000 ethnic Russians from a Stalingrad type siege.
- No more danger of a massive tsunami from Ukrainian shelling of the Kakhovskaya Dam.
- Gaining a solid defensive shield in the River Dnieper
- Freeing large intact and skilled military resources to finally take back all Donbass
ria.ruResidents of Kherson during the evacuation to the left bank of the Dnieper.
Some disadvantages could be:
- Loss of face, prestige and macho credibility.
- Loss of the gateway to the huge ethnic Russian area of Odessa.
- Encouraging Ukrainian hopes of winning the war.
On November 11, the Russian Ministry of Defence declared that the withdrawal was completed at 5 a.m. Moscow time.
The end of the Russian retreat was marked by the final blowing up of the already badly damaged Antonovsky bridge which had been used all night with pontoons to transfer Russian military equipment despite the constant attempts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to destroy it.
multivar.livejournal.comThe moment of evacuation of civilians from the right side of Kherson.
Two hours before, at about 3 a.m. local time another explosion thundered on the crossing at the Kakhovskaya dam. A desperate attempt, perhaps, by Ukraine to break the dam and unleash a tsunami style flood on Kherson.
The railway bridge located near the village of Pridnestrovskoe was also reportedly blown up.
All other pontoon crossings used by the Russian military were then destroyed.
“During the night, the enemy tried to disrupt the transportation of civilians and the transfer of troops to the left bank of the Dnieper, firing without success on the last ferry crossings
During the night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a blitz of five failed attacks with the US HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems on crossings over the Dnieper River.
“28 rockets were shot down by Russian air defense means. Five more rockets were successfully deflected from the targets by means of electronic warfare.” the Russian MoD reported.
Together with the Russian troops, the evacuation of civilians continued as some people, especially old and infirm, had stayed in the city until the last seconds despite the official evacuation which took place from October 18 to November 9.
On November 11, the last ferry crossed the Dnieper to the left bank (on the right on the map). The Russian troops provided assistance to civilians who decided to leave the city at the last moment.
Russian air defense, artillery, aviation and engineering sapper units had managed to slow down the advance of enemy troops and protect their own units on the river crossing.
see night evacuation video HERE Telegram Widget
The evacuation to the left bank of the Dnieper River was carried out at night, so that the movement of equipment and personnel of the Russian Armed Forces remained a secret for Ukrainian drones and other intelligence assets of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Читайте больше на https://military.pravda.ru/news/1769079-kadry_evakuacii_iz_khersona/
Russian forces stopped Ukrainian units 30-40 km from the Dnieper river crossing area.
“..Two tanks, two self-propelled artillery installations, three armored combat vehicles, and more than twenty Ukrainian servicemen were blown up in the minefields. Three 155-mm towed M777 howitzers, two infantry fighting vehicles and three enemy pickups were destroyed by Lancet barrage ammunition and MLRS fire..”.
The Russian military likely drew a lesson from the recent chaotic retreat in the Kharkov region. However, the loss of the a large ‘Russian’ city is the biggest Russian military defeat since the beginning of the Russian military operations in Ukraine.
Prospects.. Outcomes
The battles in the Kherson region will now likely turn into positional artillery duels across the river. The Russian military is now taking new defensive positions on the left bank which is about 50 meters lower than the right one.
This is an advantage for Ukrainian forces. In addition to the imminent artillery duels across the river, Ukrainian attempts to launch landing operations on the Kinburnskaya spit could be expected in the near future.
‘More than 115,000 people have been evacuated in recent weeks, and the latest civilian evacuations have concluded successfully in Kherson. Even the animals in the zoo were evacuated. One aim is of course to prevent civilians in Kherson from being massacred by Ukrainian soldiers for “collaboration” in false-flag operations, as we have seen in Bucha, or in Izyum, Balakliya and Krasny Lyman’.
The freezing of winter military operations by the both sides is expected in the coming months on the southern Ukrainian front lines without any significant changes in other regions.
Russia, the US and other parties may launch some negotiations with unlikely significant results.
Karachay-Cherkessia, Kherson, OMON, special operation in Ukraine, evacuation of Russians
Moscow and Kiev will exchange their prisoners of war and the bodies of dead servicemen.
Artillery duels and mutual missile/UAV strikes on military and civilian strategic infrastructure will continue.
There will likely be sabotage attacks and witch hunts in the war-torn regions as well as on the Russian territories.
As Ramzan Kadyrov pointed out in his message supporting the decision to withdraw from Kherson: “after weighing the pros and cons, General Surovikin made a difficult but correct choice between a senseless sacrifice to make flashy statements and saving the invaluable lives of the soldiers“…
The Free 
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