Russia will be sweating over its withdrawal from Kherson

Almost everyone has known that the city of Kherson, stranded on the right bank of the Dnipro River, was all but indefensible. Now it looks as if the one man who, like Canute was setting himself against the tide, has finally acknowledged that: Vladimir Putin has let his generals withdraw. This could conceivably be some cunning ruse, but the odds on this are lengthening.

Putin, though always willing to let his henchmen hurl themselves on grenades in his name, was happy not to be visibly connected with the decision. Instead, in a piece of awkward uniformed theatre, overall field commander General Sergei Surovikin, recommended ‘to assume defence along the left bank’ of the river, citing the need to minimise civilian casualties and to preserve ‘the combat capability of the group of forces’.

Defence minister Sergei Shoigu sombrely ordered him to ‘start withdrawing the troops and take all measures to ensure the safe relocation of the personnel, armaments and hardware behind the Dnipro,’ as if this had not been decided in the Kremlin rather than there in the command post of the so-called Unified Group of Forces in the Zone of the Special Military Operation in Ukraine.