Ukrainians fear Russian forces will now raze Kherson city

From a battlefield geometry point of view, it is a terrible position for the Russians,” Jack Watling, a land warfare expert at Britain’s Royal United Services Institute, told POLITICO. “From a purely military point of view, the Russians would be much better off withdrawing from Kherson city and focusing on holding the river [from the east bank], and then putting the bulk of their forces on the Zaporizhzhia axis. But for political reasons, they have been slow to do that and seem ready to fight a delaying action,” he added.