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for a total black-out remains low.
On the diplomatic front calls for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine have gathered momentum, but are unlikely to happen any time soon. There is a growing Ukraine fatigue amongst Westerners, but at they same time the
allies have made it clear that Kyiv is the one to chose when talks are held and Bankova has taken the firm line it will not negotiate before Russia leaves its territory.
2.0 Politics
2.1 Russia withdraws from Kherson
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson on November 10 in a major military setback.
Russia has been struggling to hold the city for months, its only asset in western Ukraine and the only regional capital that it captured early in the war. Russian forces have been ordered to take up defensive lines on the opposite bank of the River Dnipro in eastern Ukraine.
The withdrawal comes at the end of a months-long Ukrainian counter-offensive that threatened Kherson but then drove into the region around the eastern city of Kharkiv with spectacular success. Ukrainian forces have cleared most of the forces around Kharkiv and retaken some of the territory in in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that have been under Russian occupation for nearly eight years.
In the build-up before the Ukrainian counteroffensive began Russia moved some 20-30 battalion tactical group (BTGs) to Kherson in its defence. However, Ukraine pounded the three bridges across the Dnipro river, making it increasingly difficult for Russia to keep the city supplied.
General Sergei Surovikin, who has been recently appointed the overall command of the war, told Shoigu in televised comments that it was no longer possible to keep Kherson city supplied.
"Having comprehensively assessed the current situation, it is proposed to take up defence along the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro River," said Surovikin, Reuters reports.
"I understand that this is a very difficult decision, but at the same time we will preserve the most important thing – the lives of our servicemen and, in general, the combat effectiveness of the group of troops, which it is futile to keep on the right bank in a limited area."
Notably, President Vladimir Putin has not commented on the withdrawal and appears to be letting the military take the blame for the strategic setback.
The potential withdrawal has been on the cards for several weeks after the authorities ordered some 100,000 residents to evacuate the city. Kherson was one of the four Ukrainian regions annexed by Russia in September, which Putin said would be part of Russia “forever.”
6 UKRAINE Country Report December 2022 www.intellinews.com