By KYIV. Nov 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russian troops are setting conditions for a controlled withdrawal from the western bank of the Dnipro River to avoid a rout in Kherson region, according to a report by analysts from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
As the analysts predicted, Russian forces are setting conditions for a controlled withdrawal in northwestern Kherson region, likely to avoid a disorderly rout from the right (west) bank of the Dnipro River. Russian forces will likely need to engage in a fighting withdrawal to prevent Ukrainian forces from chasing them onto the left (eastern) bank, the report said.
At the same time, the ISW believes that "the Russian military is likely trying to use mobilized personnel to restart the Donetsk offensive but will likely still fail to achieve operationally significant gains."
According to the report, Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely setting conditions to continue covert mobilization, which suggests that partial mobilization did not generate sufficient forces for Putin’s goals in Ukraine. However, Russia’s costly force generation efforts will continue to weigh on the Russian economy and could ignite social tensions.
The analysts said that Iran is likely already exploiting Russian reliance on Iranian-made weapons systems to request Russian assistance with its nuclear program.
