Vladimir Putin set to withdraw forces from Kherson in big setback for his Ukraine invasion - western officials ladimir Putin has “well advanced” plans to order a retreat from Kherson, the largest city held by Russian forces in Ukraine, in another major setback for his invasion, western officials said on Thursday.A western official said: “We are confident in our previous warnings about the prospect of Russian withdrawal from their Kherson bridgehead.“It’s increasingly apparent that they are often woefully equipped and prepared.” Ukrainian forces were said to be making “very slow going” in their progress towards Kherson, with some “instances” of seizing territory more quickly.“I think in their judgement, they have decided that Kherson city is not worth fighting for, that that natural defensive barrier of the river is extremely valuable to them.” A senior Russian-installed occupation official said Russian forces were likely to abandon their foothold on the west bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson area.Moscow declared at the end of September that it had annexed Ukraine's Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzia regions after staging so-called referendums rejected as bogus and illegal by Kyiv and the West."