The military officials of Russia have withdrawn its officers in the Russian-annexed city of Kherson across the Dniper River in anticipation of an advance of the Ukrainian army. The following announcement has been made by the Institute for the Study of War think tank said on Sunday.
To delay the Ukrainian counteroffensive as the Russians complete their retreat, Russia has left newly mobilized, inexperienced forces on the other side of the wide river, it added.
The army movements come as the Ukrainian army said its forces have continued their counteroffensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine on Saturday said to all Kherson residents to leave immediately ahead of the expected action by Ukrainian army to take back the city.
Kherson has been in hands of Russia since the early days of the eight-month-long battle in Ukraine. The city is the capital region of an area of the same name, one of four that the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin illegally annexed past month and put under Russian martial law on Thursday.
Ukrainian army on Friday has bombarded Russian positions around the province, targeting pro-Kremlin forces’ resupply routes across the Dniper River and preparing for a final push to reclaim the city.
The ISW think tank on Sunday said that Russia’s latest war strategy of targeting power plants in recent days appears to be aimed at diminishing Ukrainians’ will to fight and forcing Ukraine’s government to spend additional resources to protect civilians & energy infrastructure.
It added the effort was unlikely to damage morale of Ukraine but would have a significant economic impact.
The Ukrainian military said Sunday that Russian forces are now mostly on the defensive, but are keeping up offensive attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and on several towns in the eastern Donbas area.