“Russia wants to exterminate the Ukrainian ethnic group” – that is behind the evacuation of Kherson Boris Johnson should get the necessary support for the prime minister’s candidacy

The situation in Ukraine is currently confusing. As the Ukrainian government is forced to cut power across the country, the Russians appear to be pulling out of the southern front city of Kherson in near panic. They take the civilian population with them.

What does all this mean and how could it go on now.

Russia prepares for another defeat

The military situation is becoming increasingly precarious for the Russians. After massive losses on the Eastern Front around Kharkov, troops on the Southern Front appear to be preparing for another defeat.

The Russian army and television propaganda warn with unusual openness of a violent defeat in Kherson. Two weeks ago, important command posts were moved to the south of Kherson. All military and civilian authorities followed suit on Wednesday. According to information from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Moscow wants to evacuate the entire right bank of the Dnipro. The aim of open communication is to prepare the population at home for a complete withdrawal from the city. Russia has been warning for days of a major offensive by Ukrainian troops.

In the political talk show “60 Minutes” on Russian state television, correspondent Alexander Kots also warned that there would be “no good news” in the next two months. The Russian troops would suffer heavy casualties.

Unusually sharp criticism also came from the moderator of the show, Olga Skabeeva. The hardliner asked bitterly how Russia could have been so wrong. “Why didn’t we prepare enough at the start of our special military operation? Why did we think Zelensky would run away and NATO wouldn’t help Ukraine?”

While Moscow urgently warns of a major offensive around Kherson, the leadership in Kiev is silent. The front still stands so far, the Russian troops seem to have entrenched themselves in well-developed positions. However, the regional administration of the Russian-placed region is already speaking of attacks by several hundred soldiers northeast of Kherson.

As the NZZ reports, a major attack by the Ukrainians is anything but certain. It would be in complete contradiction to previous tactics, as the Ukrainians, who are outnumbered, have so far avoided urban fighting as much as possible. Another argument against a hasty attack is that the bridges over the Dnipro have been rendered practically impassable by Ukrainian shelling. So that the Ukrainians could take their time.

The British Ministry of Defense tweeted that Russian troops will most likely have to lean heavily on a temporary inland waterway bridge recently completed near Kherson, as well as military pontoon ferries. However, these were all within range of Ukrainian artillery.

Civilians are deported to Russia

Nevertheless, Moscow continues to withdraw. The Russian-appointed administrator, Vladimir Saldo, announced on Wednesday that he plans to “evacuate” up to 60,000 people from Kherson in the coming days. Some of the people will be taken to Russia. According to the Russian side, the action should serve to protect civilians.

The occupation administration called on people to go to the port of Kherson. During the day, small steamers floated from there to the left bank. “Everyone is allowed to bring 50 kilograms of luggage,” the information said. “Pets can be taken.” The video shows how long lines form in the harbor. 7,000 people have already been resettled.

Meanwhile, both Western actors and the Ukrainian leadership spoke of deportations of the Ukrainian population. According to reports from Kiev, Russia is putting on a “propaganda show”.

Presidential chief Andriy Yermak spoke of fake news with which Russia wanted to scare the inhabitants. “The Russians are trying to intimidate the residents of Kherson with fake news about our army shelling the city and are also putting on a propaganda show of evacuations,” he wrote on Telegram.

The ISW also sees the evacuation as a pretext for the massive forced resettlement of civilians. In an update, the think tank wrote:

False flag attack on large hydroelectric power station

As Russian troops hurriedly withdraw from Kherson, darkness falls over Ukraine. Over the past week and a half, Russia has carried out widespread attacks on Ukraine, particularly targeting the neighboring country’s critical infrastructure. According to the latest information from the Kiev government, about 40 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has now been damaged by missiles and drones.

As a result, there were power outages across the country on Thursday. The entire population was asked to use as little electricity as possible between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. At the same time, there were calls to have power banks, batteries and flashlights ready.

Another blow to energy infrastructure could come in the form of a false flag attack. The Commander-in-Chief of Russian forces in the war in Ukraine, General Surovikin, spoke on Tuesday about an alleged Ukrainian attack on the Kakhowka hydroelectric power plant. This is a few miles east of Kherson on the Dnipro. Surovikin accused Kiev of wanting to attack the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. This would lead to devastating flooding in Kherson Oblast.

Western actors see this as a false flag operation. With the warnings, Russian troops could damage the dam and then blame the Ukrainians. The Russians could use the flooding to buy time and further legitimize their own retreat south.

Putin declares state of war

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to use every possible means to secure his power in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Two of Putin’s decrees came into effect on Thursday evening. Since then, martial law has been in effect in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson. In Russia, on the other hand, there is a kind of ‘martial law light’, an ominous state of alert that will apply to varying degrees throughout Russia.

The Russian state of siege is allowing a series of massive invasions of personal freedom. For example, there is a curfew and military censorship: checkpoints are set up and movement options are limited. Arrests of up to 30 days, confiscation of property, detention of foreigners, forced relocation to other areas and travel restrictions on Russian citizens abroad are also possible.

“Putin wants to create a legal basis for a general mobilization in these annexed regions,” explains political scientist and security expert Gerhard Mangott of the University of Innsbruck. The Russian army is under great pressure to make up for losses in its own ranks. “Russia urgently needs manpower”.

It is doubtful whether the forced conscription of Ukrainian men will be enough to avert the next major defeat in Kherson. The withdrawal of the Russian army indicates that there are doubts in the Kremlin itself.