US on Russia's most significant retreat from Ukraine city: ‘An opportunity'

Russia-Ukraine War: Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu approved the withdrawal of troops from Kherson.

Russia’s retreat from Kherson could provide Ukraine and Moscow with an opportunity to negotiate peace, US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff general Mark Milley said adding that as many as 40,000 Ukrainian civilians and “well over 100,000 Russian soldiers” have been killed or wounded in the war.

Russia-Ukraine War: Ukrainian servicemen ride a 2S7 Pion self-propelled gun, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. (Reuters)

“There has been a tremendous amount of suffering, human suffering,” Mark Milley said. US president Joe Biden also said that Russia’s retreat would allow both sides to “recalibrate their positions”.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu approved the withdrawal of troops from Kherson. “Having assessed the situation, I propose to prepare defences along the left bank of the Dnipro River,” Sergei Shoigu said.

General Sergey Surovikin, the head of Russian forces in Ukraine, said that it was “a hard decision”.

“There will be an additional threat to the civilian population and the complete isolation of our group of troops on the right bank of the Dnieper [the Russian name for the river],” he said of the situation in the southern region," Sergey Surovikin said.

The announcement signals one of Russia’s most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war. Kherson, a port city in the south of Ukraine, is the only regional centre Moscow’s forces had captured and held since President Putin launched the invasion in February. The Kremlin annexed it in September.