![Russia's army has suffered another major setback in Ukraine. A Russian retreat in Kherson could mark a turning point in the Ukraine War.](https://san.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/A-turning-point-in-Kherson.png?w=1920)
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Hey everybody. Peter Zeihan here. Coming to you briefly from New York City. I’m in town for like 16 hours. Well, anyway, I wanted to do a quick update because things are changing so quickly in Ukraine. There has been a series of breakthroughs through Russian lines north of Kherson, and as a result, it appears that the entire Russian line has crumpled. The problem is that the Russians really have nowhere to retreat to, or at least not with their gear. There are two bridges, one in Kherson and one in Nova Kakhovka, that have been damaged. So you can walk across them, but you can’t take your equipment with you. You can’t drive across them.
And that means that the Russians are literally running for their lives and very soon they’re going to be pinned against the river. And they’ll have the choice between fighting to the death, surrendering, or making a run on foot for one of those bridges to get away.
Now, this would obviously…be bad for the Russians in any circumstance because this is the furthest that the Russians have gotten. Kherson is the only major city that the Russian advance has caught…captured in seven months. But there’s an additional problem here. This is the greatest concentration of Russian forces and it is the best troops that Russia has. So we’re talking at something like 25,000 troops with the best equipment that the Russians have. And if they have to abandon that, it’s a double whammy because you’re talking about the evisceration and destruction of their most capable armored infantry and artillery formations and the abandonment of the best equipment that they have to the Ukrainian forces. In terms of weapons transfers, this would be bigger than even what the Ukrainians got with their Kharkiv offensive and the capture of Izium last month.
And it also would be greater than everything that NATO has transferred to Ukraine so far. Now I still believe that this is Russia’s war to lose. The first year of all Russia’s wars look a lot like this. Bad training, bad coordination, poorly maintained equipment, and eventually they turn the corner. But if their most powerful formations dissolve in the next couple of days, it’s time to start thinking about what that means for Russia as a whole. That is going to have to be the topic of another video anyway. Watch Kherson closely. This could very well be where this war is decided. Take care.
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