This is where Ukraine lost the War: Kherson 2022

While Russia is in the midst of wrapping up the capture of Avdiivka in Donetsk, I wanted to revisit some of the more underreported battles of this Russo-Ukrainian war. In particular, the Russian withdrawal or retreat from the West Bank of the Kherson river in the fall of 2022. I think an examination of this battle is crucial because it served as a turning point. It was the last battlefield victory for Ukraine as everything has gone downhill for them since then. What followed was a Russian victory year in 2023 with four win/ soledar, bakhmut, Zaporyzhia counteroffensive and Marinka. Perhaps this is why the Wall Street journal named President Putin as winner is 2023 along with Elon musk. It seems the decision by General Sergey Surovikin at that time was not only wise, but pivotal for Russia to retake momentum in the war. But what really happened? How was Russia able to successfully and calmly withdraw over 30,000 troops and thousands of pieces of equipment from the West Bank over the Dnipro on a single damages bridge in just two days? It’s clear the retreat was ongoing for weeks before Russia announced it. Yet the Ukrainian army never tried to seriously press them or encircle the Russians as they retreated. Instead the came up with conspiracy theories that Russia had laid a trap in Kherson city. Turns out there was no such trap. So the question remains, how did the Russians pull this off for weeks without taking heavy casualties or losses of equipment or being routed. It’s either they deceived Ukrainian intelligence or more likely, the Ukrainian army had been so badly battered on the West Bank, they had nothing left o press the retreating Russians and had to just watch them leave. Given the multiple defeats that have followed the Ukrainians since then, that theory seems valid. The Ukrainian army was defeated on the West Bank of Kherson and the retreat was a Russian victory and not a defeat.
#bakhmut #prigozhin #surovikin