Home › Security › What the retaking of Kherson meant on 11 November 2022
What the retaking of Kherson meant on 11 November 2022
Summary
Ukrainian troops entered Kherson as Russian forces pulled out west of the Dnieper, destroying a bridge on the way.
What did it mean when Ukrainian troops entered Kherson on 11 November 2022? It ended eight months of Russian occupation of the city, which was the only Ukrainian regional capital Russia had captured during the invasion.
A retreat announced two days earlier
The entry followed a Russian announcement on 9 November 2022 of 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 same day, Russian officials said 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.
The withdrawal was the culmination of a Ukrainian counteroffensive launched on 29 August 2022 to expel Russian forces from the southern regions of Kherson and Mykolaiv oblasts.
Final steps on the ground
On 10 November 2022, Ukrainian troops recaptured the village of Kyselivka, advancing to within nine miles of Kherson's city centre, and explosions were reported near the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant. The Ukrainian military also said it had recaptured Snihurivka, the last city in Mykolaiv Oblast still controlled by Russia.
On 11 November 2022, as Russian forces retreated from the west of the Dnieper, they destroyed the Antonivka Road Bridge. The destruction of the crossing marked the manner of the withdrawal: the river now lay between the two armies in this sector, and Ukrainian troops took Kherson itself.
Western support continued
The day before, on 10 November 2022, the Pentagon announced a package worth $400 million. It included four AN/TWQ-1 Avenger surface-to-air missile systems, Stinger missiles, 400 grenade launchers, 100 humvees, artillery rounds and small arms ammunition.
On 11 November 2022, the Russian Foreign Ministry banned 200 US citizens from entering Russia. They included White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and three siblings of President Joe Biden.
The wider economic backdrop
Also on 11 November 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization forecast that global spending on food imports would rise by 10 percent from the previous year by the end of 2022, to an all-time high of US$1.94 trillion. It attributed this to currency depreciations and the war in Ukraine. The bulk of the increase was expected to come from high-income countries, and import volumes were also expected to rise.
That forecast sat within a broader period of food price inflation in 2022. Several factors fed it, among them supply chain disruption linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the global energy crisis, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, floods and heatwaves in 2021, and drought.
Why the day mattered
The sequence from 9 to 11 November 2022 shows a retreat announced, towns retaken and a city entered within three days. Russia lost the only regional capital it had held, and the destroyed bridge showed that its forces were leaving the western bank of the Dnieper. At the same time, continuing US weapons deliveries and Russian entry bans on US citizens showed that the diplomatic and material dimensions of the war carried on alongside the fighting in the south.
