Two Russian state news agencies published alerts yesterday saying Moscow was moving troops to “more favourable positions” east of the Dnipro River in Ukraine, only to withdraw the information minutes later.
The highly unusual incident suggested disarray in Russia’s military establishment and state media over how to report the battlefield situation in southern Ukraine, 20 months into Moscow’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
The RBC news outlet quoted the defence ministry as saying: “The sending of a false report about the ‘regrouping’ of troops in the Dnepr (Dnipro) region, allegedly on behalf of the Press centre of the Russian Ministry of Defence, is a provocation.”
The Kremlin declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the military.
Russia retreated a year ago from areas it had seized on the western bank of the Dnipro, including the regional capital Kherson. If Ukrainian forces succeeded in crossing the river and establishing a secure bridgehead on the east bank, it would represent a major advance.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, said yesterday’s incident was symptomatic of information warfare. “The enemy measures our resilience, and readiness to counteract and react,” she said in televised comments.
“There are a number of military operations (in the Kherson region) that we do not discuss, precisely so that the enemy has increased nervousness and moral disorder. This state of the enemy army satisfies us.”
In a series of three alerts yesterday, Russia’s RIA state news agency said the command of Russia’s Dnepr group of forces had decided to relocate troops to “more favourable positions” east of the Dnipro. It said that, after the regrouping, the Dnepr force would release some troops to be deployed in offensives on other fronts.
&uuid=(email))