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Kherson retreat: what 9 November 2022 announced
Summary
A look back at the day Russian forces announced their withdrawal from the western bank of the Dnieper, and at the other news that came with it.
What did it mean when Russian forces said they were leaving Kherson? On 9 November 2022, they announced a retreat from the city of Kherson, from the western bank of the Dnieper River in Mykolaiv Oblast, and from the western part of Kherson Oblast.
The announcement came at the end of a long push. Ukraine had launched its military counteroffensive on 29 August 2022, with the aim of expelling Russian forces from the occupied southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts. By 9 November, the announced withdrawal covered the city and a wide area of the river's western side.
A death on the same day
The same day brought another piece of news from the region. 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 him the Order of Courage.
Air defence arrives
Two days earlier, on 7 November 2022, Ukraine confirmed that it had received the first delivery of the NASAMS surface-to-air missile system. Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said it would significantly strengthen the country's armed forces. The delivery was part of the foreign aid reaching Ukraine during the war.
Taken together, these reports show a single stretch of days in which the front in the south shifted, a figure from the Russian-installed administration in Kherson Oblast was reported dead, and Ukraine announced a new air-defence capability. The retreat announced on 9 November 2022 was the most consequential of them: it concerned the city of Kherson and the territory west of the Dnieper, which had been a main objective of the counteroffensive since late August.
