WAR IN UKRAINE: November 11, 2022

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 261

Russian forces have withdrawn from Ukraine’s Kherson region west of the Dnipro River, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday, in one of the biggest setbacks for Moscow since the start of the war. As Ukrainian troops entered the regional center, residents have flooded the central square, waving Ukrainian flags, according to social media images geolocated by CNN. The main bridge across the Dnipro River has also been destroyed
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has insisted that the Kherson region — one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow claims to have annexed — remains part of Russia, denying that the retreat is "humiliating" for President Vladimir Putin.
President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned that forces will advance carefully, amid warnings that Russian troops have mined the city and will continue to strike against it from the river's east bank - CNN
Foreign journalists arriving in just-liberated Kherson reporting horrific stories from civilians of torture, threats and interrogation in the hands of Russian troops. There are fears that plenty of evidence of atrocities is to be found as Ukraine regains control and as areas are de-mined
Russia's withdrawal from "strategically important" Kherson Oblast on the west bank of the Dnipro River would allow the Armed Forces to threaten a critical Russian supply route from Crimea, the Financial Times reported, citing Defense Ministry adviser Serhii Kuzan. Three essential roads on the land bridge, several Russian logistic sites, and ammunition dumps would be within range of Ukraine's western-supplied high-precision missile systems, the Financial Times wrote - Kyiv Independent
Ukraine's Intelligence Directorate has appealed to any Russian soldiers still on the west bank of the Kherson region to surrender. In a message on its Telegram channel, the Intelligence Directorate said, "Russian soldiers! As expected, after the retreat of the main group of troops of the Russian army from the Ukrainian Kherson, your command left you to the mercy of fate. Your commanders urge you to change into civilian clothes and try to escape from Kherson on your own. Obviously you won't be able to." The message continues: "Kherson returns under the control of Ukraine, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine enter the city. The retreat routes of the Russian invaders are under the fire control of the Ukrainian army. Any attempts to oppose the Armed Forces of Ukraine will be stopped. Every Russian soldier who resists will be destroyed." (CNN)

Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, has made the case in internal meetings that the Ukrainians have achieved about as much as they could reasonably expect on the battlefield before winter sets in and so they should try to cement their gains at the bargaining table, according to officials informed about the discussions. But other senior officials have resisted the idea, maintaining that neither side is ready to negotiate and that any pause in the fighting would only give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a chance to regroup. While Mr. Biden’s advisers believe the war will likely be settled through negotiations eventually, officials said, they have concluded that the moment is not ripe and the United States should not be seen as pressuring the Ukrainians to hold back while they have momentum - NYT