william.scherk

That won't hold. The few local minor victories add up to a later loss. One thing the Russian command has done well is to not expose their troops needlessly, then to counterattack from defensive positions. Also, they go lengths to protect Donbas civilians (e.g. by evacuation from Kherson). Different from the Ukraine forces who have been wasteful with manpower, losing men 6 to one. Wishful BBC is playing this "withdrawal" for all it's worth.

"Losing men 6 to one." Do you mean over the whole scope of the SMO from its launch, or just from the timeline of the Ukrainian recapture of the right bank of the Dnipro?  

Map from the Guardian for reference. 

The "withdrawal" - a retreat - was calculated to avoid big losses in a fixed battle/siege, defending Kherson against superior numbers, tying up Russian troops. 

Clearly, William, a long N-S front line is vulnerable to a concentration of a major part of the remaining Ukr forces on one single point, indefensible. Specially, with a broad river Dnieper at your back hindering supplies/reinforcements/fallback and with civilians at risk. .

BBC: "Celebration in Ukraine after extraordinary victory in Kherson". Heh.

From Russian pov, Kherson lies on the 'wrong' bank, the western and "right" bank.

But another problem: Flooding the whole region - by Ukraine predictably blowing the local dam. The Russians dunnit - of course (to endanger their own people, if that makes sense).

Damage to key dam from Ukrainian strikes revealed — RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

WWW.RT.COM

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The Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam in Russia’s Kherson Region suffered “colossal” damage from attacks by Ukraine, a local official has said