How important is a Russian retreat from Kherson?

The city’s fall would deal another humiliation to Moscow after a string of battlefield defeats and other setbacks.

A man walks on a bridge over the Dnipro river in Kyiv, Ukraine (Andrew Kravchenko/AP

Ukrainian officials said Ukrainian flags are appearing “en masse and all over the place” in the wake of Russia’s retreat from the southern region of Kherson, one of the four regions in Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed in September.

The months-long Ukrainian offensive to recapture the city of Kherson, the only provincial capital that has been under Russian control since the early days of the invasion, is coming to a head.