The Russian army was under pressure in Cherson for a long time - but the official withdrawal only took place last Wednesday. A day after the US midterm elections. Intelligence information suggests that this connection is not coincidental.
According to a report, US intelligence information suggests that Moscow may have delayed announcing its withdrawal from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson because of the US midterm elections. Russia did not want to give the US President's government any advantage before the so-called midterms, reported the US broadcaster CNN, citing four unspecified sources.
Senior Russian officials have discussed the election as a factor in the timing of the formal announcement, they said. Waiting until after the US elections was always a "pre-planned condition" for Russia's withdrawal from Kherson, a person familiar with the intelligence information told CNN. Nevertheless, there were several reasons for withdrawing from Cherson. According to military analysts, Russia had few other operational options and had been preparing to withdraw for weeks.
US President Biden also indicated the suspicion that the timing of the withdrawal from Cherson had something to do with the midterms. "First of all, I found it interesting that they waited until after the election to make this decision," Biden said a day after the US election.
According to the broadcaster, the information from the secret service suggests that "Russia still has an interest in influencing the political landscape in the USA". Although the sources continued to say that Russia misjudged the impact of the announcement on the US.
Biden's Democrats had done surprisingly well in the important midterm elections. Polls had predicted a debacle for the Democrats and a big win for the Republicans. But this did not happen. More than eight and a half months after the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian army had a great success last week: After successful counter-offensives, the Russians in the southern region of Cherson withdrew from the regional capital of the same name and other places on the right bank of the Dnipro.
