It’s a trap. For Natalia Houmeniouk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Southern Command, quoted by the news site Obozrevatel, there is no other explanation. She already said it a few days ago, and she does not budge: the withdrawal of Russian forces from around Kherson, in the south of the country, is suspicious.
Yet, says Iryna Verechchuk, “minister in charge of the question of the reintegration of the temporarily occupied territories”, in an interview with Corriere della Serra also taken up by Obozrevatel, “Ukrainian armed forces are continuing their counter-offensive operations in the Kherson region. The country’s defenders have liberated several settlements from the Russian occupiers in recent hours”.
A calculation of the Russians?
Is this a real advance, or a calculated retreat on the part of the Russian troops? Natalia Houmeniouk calls for caution. “The Russian occupation army is trying to create the illusion of a withdrawal to the Kherson region.” And she specifies:
“The enemy is doing everything to attract Ukrainian armed forces to certain settlements.”
This is partly confirmed by journalist Yuriy Boutoussov, a specialist in military matters, in an analysis published on the website of the Lviv daily Vissoky Castle. “The