If not a trap, then either a Russian military decision to withdraw or Putin's own decision, made to look like a wise response to advice.
Perhaps face saving assurances were given that the retreating troops would be allowed to retreat, in order to protect civilians and preserve the city.
Ukrainian negotiations, if offered, will be nothing like the "sham negotiations" that were "sham offered" by "sham Russia". They could amount to "guess what happens if you don't f*ck off".
Crucially, Iran needs to be disincentivised from assisting Russia further, perhaps the recent election results in Israel will help.
Only reason that Shoigu is still alive is that Putin needs a scapegoat to put and trial and have shot.
Seeing lots of liberation videos. It's fantastic. Very few abandoned equipment videos. Of course, the joy in those liberation videos outweighs it all day long.
Beautiful, one day hopefully Mauripol..
I can't imagine there have been any good nights in Kherson these past 8 months. They're going to make the most of this one:
Kherson, eternally Russian. *
*Terms and conditions apply. Eternity only applies to dates between September 30th, 2022 and November 11th, 2022. Kherson is regulated by Ukraine.
Great to see so many young people:
With Iran, if there ever was a genuine case for regime change, this would be it. Hopefully the protests currently ongoing will be successful in overthrowing the Mullahs and the Ayatollah,
I wouldn't hold your breath.
Although, unlike that nice Mr Assad a decade ago, Iran will have no assistance from the Russian military if it comes to a civil war in the Islamic Republic.
Nevertheless, it would very nasty indeed and do grave damage to an already highly unstable region with ethnic and political tinderboxes all around them.
I'd say the Western media are anxious to get TV crews into Kherson as quickly as possible. We'll probably start seeing reports from inside the city as soon as this weekend.
Yeah as with these things it could swing either way but it seems that the ethnic groups within Iran are working towards the same goal and there may well be some cohesion should the government fall.
Wonderful.
You will never defeat a people who refuse to be defeated.
Lots more to be done of course, but the snowball effect of damage and demoralisation in Russian military could see a very rapid Ukrainian advance into the remainder of their occupied territory now.
As the maxim says, 'amateurs think tactics, while professionals think logistics', and Russia doesn't have any. NATO estimates 100,000 of their best troops are dead or wounded for the long term. Between that and the lack of fuel, food, winter kit and ammunition to supply the C-class divisions which remain in theatre, what hope can Russia now have. Except perhaps for a few brave (or selfish) souls in Moscow to stage a coup and stop the killing as a first step.
Putin still has very strong support domestically, it’s important to note that Russians have a huge tolerance for death and suffering compared to Western Europeans and Americans, a hundred thousand dead Russian soldiers is not such a huge deal in that culture
Very true. It's not really what you'd call a "society" or a "community" at all. Nobody seems to give a damn about anyone else in the country (very un-European in many ways).
I remember back in March the public protesting in in front of the Russian army in Kherson. It's so nice to see it liberated. The Ukrainian army there must be on cloud nine!
Little throw back to early this year. It seems impossible to break their spirit.
Thats a nice thought, that the Ayatollah will not be able to count on Putin for assistance. Which means also that other states with similar tyrants in charge, will be unable to avail of Mr. Putin's "Special Talents and Skill's" This could mean many changes for the better worldwide. I wonder how long he can remain in Syria in support of Assad? The outcome of the war in Ukraine will reverberate worldwide. Re Iran, I lived there for a while a few years ago. Lovely Country, and lovely friendly cultural people, and mad to throw of the yoke of rabid Islam. I think (and hope) that this time the revolution will succeed, they certainly deserve their freedom from the Mullahs.
I did think when I was in Ukraine the language sometimes sounded like Yiddish, I know it is part of the German languages group but there is some Slavic influences present. Even Ukrainian music sounds a bit Jewish!
I've heard the later language many times since moving to North London travelling around the area. North London has large Hasidic Jewish communities so you see the people often. They have loads of kids speaking Yiddish, better behaved than most of the other kids LOL!
If it is your only son, it's a very big deal. This is fertility rate is a bit dated but it highlights the difference between the wealthy and poor areas.
You can see why the burden of recruitment falls heaviest on the poorest areas of the Russian federation.
Great victory. I suspect a broader retreat on the way very soon.
In Russia you can have a finite eternity, square circles, true lies, non-real realities - anything you like...
Give them a day or two, with the number of explosive traps left behind by the Ruzzian's, they will have to tread with extreme care. But just now on the RTE news they showed one weapons storage building, with plenty of all kinds of munitions, mortars, shells, cases of bullets etc. left behind, and this is only one store. I'm sure that there is plenty more waiting to be found, and of course, returned to its rightful owners in due course. It would be wrong to do otherwise.
..................
Dugin putting himself forward for a car accident or falling out of a open window....
Very interested to see how Putin's next public appearance goes, in times of crisis before he has been known to dither a bit, so could be a whole before we see him. Will he hide or will he use this now to silence some of the more prominent dissenters like the above.
Not sure there will be that much, supply issues are a big reason for the withdrawal.
Would have been easy to blow it up. The Russians are done as an army.
I have seen a surprising number of these videos where the welcomed liberators are apparently driving civilian vehicles. One might have thought the folks at the pointy end might at least be in something like a jeep or HMMWV. Goes to show there's still a pretty significant equipment shortfall somewhere.
Yes and no. Its similar to what they did in the Kharkiv region. Normal cars can go a lot faster than tanks, so forward scouting groups often used those as they were quicker and more maneuverable to get in and out. Its likely what we saw above was those forward groups. The following folks would be much heavier equipped
It's a wonder they haven't booby trapped these munition dumps. Stick a remotely detonated explosive in the middle of a pile then set it off once there's sufficient troops around to do serious damage.
The sooner the dumps are dispersed the better as they would be an obvious target from the Ru from across the river
Two surgeries in a few days meant missed all news of the last few days,
Brilliant to see Ukrainans retake Kherson despite the doom and gloom of the predictions on this thread over the last few weeks,
The question is now Where to next meipol, Mariupol, Svastaspol?
I think they had to retreat from Kherson because it was too difficult to supply weaponry. The Kerch bridge is barely functional right now, otherwise they have to transport weapons all the way across the south of Ukraine, with most railway routes being within target.
There were satellite pics floating around during the week of Russians digging trenches in Crimea (can't seem to find them). They are expecting company down there for the winter.
Everyone that was charged to defend Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih, is now available for the East of the country. As are lot of Russians too, but the Russians will also have to defend their new front across the River from Kherson. The Ukrainians won't need to bother, as they know the Russians won't cross back over (and can't cross because they blew the bridges).
When the Russians said they were retreating to save soldiers lives, there may have been truth in that. Not from a humanitarian perspective but from a numbers perspective. They couldn't have afforded a mass capture or surrender. Maybe there was inklings of a potential mass surrender, which is why they granted the retreat.
They key for Ukraine now is to drive south to Melitopol and split the front into 2. Isolating the Crimea/Kherson front
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