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What did Russia's Kherson retreat announcement mean?
Summary
A look back at 9 November 2022, when Russian forces said they would leave Kherson and the Dnieper's western bank.
What happened on 9 November 2022, when Russian forces announced a retreat from the city of Kherson? The announcement covered more than the city: it extended to the western bank of the Dnieper River in Mykolaiv Oblast and the western part of Kherson Oblast.
The announcement came during the Ukrainian southern counteroffensive. According to the background, Ukraine had launched that military counteroffensive on 29 August 2022 to expel Russian forces occupying the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.
A death on the same day
On the same day, Russian officials said that Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Kherson military–civilian administration, had been killed in a car crash while travelling to Crimea. Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree posthumously awarding Stremousov the Order of Courage.
Air defence arriving
Two days earlier, on 7 November 2022, Ukraine confirmed it had received the first delivery of the NASAMS surface-to-air missile system. Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said the system would significantly strengthen the country's armed forces.
Taken together, the reports from 9 November 2022 recorded a Russian announcement of withdrawal from the western part of Kherson Oblast, the reported death of a Russian-installed administrator, and, in the days just before, a delivery of foreign-supplied air defence to Ukraine.
