Russia signals possible Kherson retreat, but Ukraine wary

A Russian official in the Kherson region has indicated Russian troops might pull back from the west bank of the Dnieper river, but as the United States sounded an optimistic note on Ukraine’s ability to retake the strategically-important southern city of Kherson, Kyiv was more wary.

“Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left (eastern) bank,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said in an interview on Thursday with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.

 The area includes Kherson city, the capital of the region of the same name, and the only major Ukrainian city captured intact since Russia invaded the country eight months ago. It also includes one side of a dam across the Dnieper, which controls the water supply to irrigate Crimea