The British Defence Ben Wallace has strongly urged we must be “cautious” over Russia’s announcement that they have withdrawn from Kherson, saying he will “believe it when we see it.”
Speaking at a meeting of Ministers from the Joint Expeditionary Force nations in Edinburgh Wallace said it would be a “significant psychological blow” for Russian troops after holding on to Kherson since the start of the war to then give it up.
The British Defence Secretary that “tens of thousands” of Russian troops were killed defending Kherson, so if Moscow has really retreated then it “does beg the question of what was it all for?”
Wallace said, “It must be quite a significant psychological blow that the one objective they did manage to capture, they have announced their intention to leave.
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“Of course this is Russia, so we haven’t yet seen them leave en masse.
“We will believe it when we see it and I think we should all be cautious, as (Ukrainian) President Zelensky was, that there is still Russian tricks and all sorts of things.
“But if they do pull out of Kherson it does beg that broader question of what was it all for?
“What was all the tens of thousands of deaths for when every one of their major objectives they have failed to hold or capture since February.”
He added that we should not all be happy that Russia has given back “stolen land.”
Lucy Fisher, chief political commentator at The Times believes that Russia’s retreat from the strategic port town of Kherson “could be an ambush” before Vladimir Putin tries “to bomb them with low-yield tactical nuclear weapons.”
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and his top commanders have also expressed publicly their scepticism as Putin officially declared Kherson will be Russian “forever.”
The Times chief political commentator warned that Putin could be attempting to offer a false sense of security to lure hundreds if not thousands of Ukrainian forces in to Kherson to then possibly try “to bomb them with low-yield tactical nuclear weapons.”
Fisher’s view was echoed by the Ukrainian MP Volodymyr Ariev who also warned that he believes Putin has his “hands” hovering “over the red button” who will as first probably use a “tactical on, a small nuclear blast to show” his intentions are “very serious.”
Ariev told Express.co.uk, “Now for me, it’s difficult to know what is inside his mind… This twisted mind.
“And when people told me a couple of years ago that it is not possible that Putin will do a full-scale invasion into Ukraine.
“I told them that you’re completely wrong, and finally when some German, and French colleagues…they’ve seen that the worst concerns became true.
“So I think, he would like to do that you know, his hands are over the red button, but he will not go to a full-scale nuclear war.
“At first probably he will by trying to use a tactical one, a small nuclear blast to show that his intentions are really very very serious.
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