It has been all over the MSM. Russia is apparently abandoning Kherson without a fight. Do you think this is a trap? Or a ruse of some kind? Or has Russia finished their Denazification efforts?
This feels like a defeat, but I know the MSM makes it really difficult to see through the fog of war.
The situation there for Russia was not defendable and they did not want their troops to be encircled - so they have chosen to move to the other side of the river. They have spent several weeks evacuating civilians for the same reasons. The Ukrainians have been bombing the dam upriver and a breach was not a possibility the Russians wanted to deal with. If the bridges were washed out, civilians and personnel would have been stranded.
One thing about Russian tactics. They have no problem withdrawing in order to save personnel and equipment. They do not view these things as defeat - but as tactical moves in the overall operation. They live to fight another day and do not need the optics. The Ukrainians however, have no hesitation at expending lives and equipment for a photo op and headlines. The Ukrainians will spend the currency of precious lives in order to keep the grift from the West flowing. The main objectives for Russia as part of the military operation in Ukraine was to secure the Russian citizens of the Eastern areas and to demilitarize the Ukrainians. These objectives continue to be met. The withdrawal from Kherson in no way detracts from those overall objectives. They most likely will be back - after weakening the Ukrainians even more.
Do we know what Russia's objectives are? And I'm not talking about what the MSM thinks there objectives are (which are laughable bad). I mean, their real objectives and end game.
Put an end to the genocide and western expansion.
Yes. Russia has made no secret about what their objectives have been for this operation into Ukraine. The objectives have been to demilitarize Ukraine, as in Nazis, and to liberate Eastern Ukrainians that had been brutalized by Ukraine since 2014 by constant missile bombardment. Also in the process of these first two objectives, Russia has secured a land corridor to Crimea and turned their water back on - which the Ukrainians had shut off. Unlike what the western media has been promoting, this operation for the Russians was never about taking territory. That is why Russia has no problems withdrawing from areas rather than have their soldiers killed and equipment lost just to have bragging rights.
Russia's goal in the beginning was to get Ukraine to the bargaining table in an attempt to get Ukraine to agree to follow the Minsk agreement which did not allow NATO expansion into Ukraine. They almost had a peace treaty back in March when they met in Turkey. That is when Russia had surrounded Kiev - just to keep them in place. Russia in a show of good will withdrew from Kiev. Their good will gesture was met with Kiev reneging on the deal when Bojo from the UK convinced Zelenskyy to back out. There is no incentive at this point for Russia to believe anything the collective West or Ukraine puts forth. Therefore, they have worked to liberate Donetsk and Luhansk regions of the Donbass and to fortify Crimea - basically Eastern Ukraine which are primarily Russians unlike the West which is mostly Ukrainian. I have interest here because my mother's family originates from this area but to the north.
Honestly, Russia intervened into what would have been massive ethnic cleansing of the Donbass. Ukraine, backed by NATO, was amassing large forces to invade Donbass. Russia simply beat them to the punch and saved those people. Something you will never hear from western media.