Russia withdraws officers from Kherson amid Ukrainian counter-offensive – think tank
Russia's military leadership has withdrawn its officers in the Russian-annexed city of Kherson across the Dnieper River in anticipation of an advance by Ukrainian troops, a think tank has said.
To delay the Ukrainian counter-offensive as the Russians complete their retreat, Moscow has left newly mobilised, inexperienced forces on the other side of the wide river, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) added.
The troop movements come as the Ukrainian military said its forces have continued their counter-offensives in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.
On Saturday, Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine told all Kherson residents to leave immediately ahead of the expected action by Ukrainian troops to take back the city.
Kherson has been in Russian hands since the early days of the eight-month war in Ukraine.
The city is the capital of a region of the same name, one of four that Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and put under Russian martial law on Thursday.
Watch: Putin's back is 'against the wall' as world heads towards 'Cuban missile crisis'.
On Friday, Ukrainian forces bombarded Russian positions across the province, targeting pro-Kremlin forces' resupply routes across the Dnieper River and preparing for a final push to reclaim the city.
The ISW think tank also 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 and energy infrastructure.
It said the effort was unlikely to damage Ukrainian morale but would have a significant economic impact.
The Ukrainian military said on 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.
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