Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered troops to withdraw from the strategic city of Kherson in southern Ukraine, in another major setback for president Vladimir Putin’s nine-month invasion of the country.
In footage shown on state television on Wednesday, Shoigu accepted a proposal from Sergei Surovikin, commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine, to retreat from the town to the left bank of the Dnipro river.
Surovikin said the withdrawal would happen “at the earliest possible juncture” and that Russia’s troops would set up defensive positions in the remaining parts of the Kherson region that they control south-east of the city.