Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has ordered troops to retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson and cross the Dnipro River. He made the announcement during a military command meeting, TASS reports.
“Start withdrawing troops and take every measure to ensure safe redeployment of military personnel, weapons, and hardware across the Dnipro River,” he instructed Sergey Surovikin, commander of Russian troops in Ukraine.
Kherson formally was a “part of Russia” for 41 days.
At the meeting, Surovikin gave a frontline report to Shoigu. According to him, the Ukrainian army “lost more than 12,000 servicemembers in October alone.”
“It is known that the attacking side suffers much bigger losses than the defending one. In this case, our losses are 7-8 times lower than that of the enemy. We primarily think about lives of every Russian servicemembers” Surovikin said.
The general also said that the Russian troops resumed attacks “on several fronts.”
Surovikin believes that “the situation in the special military operation zone has stabilised.” According to him, the Russian army received a military boost due to the influx of draftees and volunteers.
On 30 September, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a series of accession treaties to annex the Kherson region, Zaporizhzhia region as well as the so-called Donetsk people’s republic Luhansk people’s republic.