Who decided to pull Russia out of Ukraine's Kherson? Kremlin answers

The decision to pull Russian forces out of the Ukrainian city of Kherson came from the defense minister, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday in his first public comments on the dramatic setback.

The decision to pull Russian forces out of the Ukrainian city of Kherson came from the defense minister, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday in his first public comments on the dramatic setback.

Russia-Ukraine War: An old woman walks in the Kherson region village of Arkhanhelske. (AFP)

“It was the proposal of commander Surovikin and there was the decision of the defense minister,” Peskov said on a conference call. “I have nothing more to add, nothing to say about this topic,” he said, referring comments to the Defense Ministry.

President Vladimir Putin hasn’t publicly commented on the retreat, which Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Gen. Sergei Surovikin, the commander of the operation in Ukraine, announced in televised comments Wednesday evening. Kherson was the only regional capital to fall to Russian troops in the nine-month-old invasion and was part of the territory that Putin illegally annexed in September. At the time, he said it would remain Russian forever.

In an illustration of the confusion the sudden retreat has caused inside Russia, a reporter for the state news agency Tass questioned Peskov on whether Kherson and the area on the west bank of the Dnipro River that Moscow’s troops are leaving is still considered Russian territory under the annexation decree.

“There aren’t and can’t be any changes to this,” Peskov said, without explaining what the status of the territory retaken by Ukraine now is. He said the Kremlin doesn’t regret holding the public annexation ceremony in September, even though large areas of the territory it claimed have now been retaken by Ukraine.

Even some commentators in Russia have questioned the Kherson retreat, calling it a major defeat for Putin. Peskov declined to comment on that assessment Friday.

The Russian leader made the decision himself not to attend the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia next week, Peskov said, citing “his schedule and the need to remain in Russia.” Putin won’t be addressing the gathering by video link, either, he said. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will attend in his place.

Putin’s attendance in Indonesia could have caused uncomfortable confrontations with the leaders of the US and its allies over his invasion of Ukraine.