Russian defeat in Ukraine could have political consequences for Putin

 Insider:

A former advisor to President Vladimir Putin compared the retreat of Russia's forces from Kherson to the collapse of the Soviet Union as the Russian military's mounting failures in the Ukraine war place the Kremlin in an increasingly precarious position.

"The surrender of Kherson is the largest geopolitical defeat of Russia since the collapse of the USSR," Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst and ex-advisor to Putin, said on Telegram.

"The political consequences of this huge defeat will be really big," Markov added.

Putin once referred to the disintegration of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century."

Other pro-Kremlin voices have also expressed dismay over the announced pullback.

"The Russian information space predictably reacted to the announcement of the withdrawal with varying degrees of ire and concern," an assessment from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. "Russian sources also emphasized that this is a major defeat for Russian forces because they are losing territory that Russia annexed and claims as its own."

But ISW also noted that prominent voices in the Russian military blogger space also portrayed the decision as a necessary one to preserve the safety of Russia's troops.
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Actually, the pullback from Kearson is one of the first militarily intelligent moves the Russians have made in this war.  Prior responses to the Ukraine offensives have been to double down on mistakes.  The Russian commanders have been making bad decisions from the beginning of the war and Putin has made their task more difficult by insisting on maneuvers that have been disastrous.