Russian forces have started to prepare for the evacuation of some civilians from occupied Kherson, which means they "anticipate combat extending to the city of Kherson itself," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 13.
After their retreat about 20 kilometers in the north of the Kherson sector, Russian troops may try to build up a new front line west from the village of Mylove. The heavy fighting continues along this line, "especially at the western end, where Ukrainian advances mean Russia's flank is no longer protected by the Inhulets River," reads the report.
On Oct. 11, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote that General Sergei Surovikin, the newly appointed commander of Russia's Joint Group of Forces leading the war in Ukraine, would have "to contest with an increasingly factional Russian defense ministry which is poorly resourced to achieve the political objectives it has been set in Ukraine."
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