The General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation could give instructions to the mass media to publicize and then withdraw the information about the regrouping of troops in the Kherson region as part of an information operation.
What the "cancellation" of the withdrawal of Russian troops in the Kherson region means
It is assumed that the reason for the reports of "regrouping" was the inability of the Russian command to create a decent resistance to the Ukrainian ground operations on the eastern bank of the Dnieper.
The Russian Federation has carefully struggled to form a coordinated approach in covering the invasion of Ukraine, especially after the Russian command failed to create the information conditions for defeats during the Kharkiv counteroffensive in 2022.
The reports about the "regrouping" of Russian troops in the Kherson region, which have now been withdrawn, may indicate real discussions in the higher echelons of the Russian military command, which may have entered the information space prematurely without being officially publicised by the Russian military.
In addition, the Russian military command may have instructed state media to publish and then deny these reports as part of an information operation designed to cause Ukrainian forces to underestimate the available Russian forces on the eastern bank of the Kherson region.
Regardless of the reasons and circumstances of the "regrouping" reports, the reaction to them indicates that events in the Kherson region continue to be extremely challenging for the Russian army.
The Russian Federation announced the "regrouping of troops" in the Kherson region
On November 13, Russian mass media, with reference to the statements of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, disseminated information about the department's decision to regroup “Dnipro” millitary group from the occupation contingent in the Kherson region. They were allegedly going to be withdrawn further east of the Dnieper River based on an "assessment of the current situation".
Thus, Shoigu explained such "manoeuvres" with plans to withdraw some of the forces that are "engaged for offensive operations in other directions".
At the same time, a little later was "cancelled" a similar statement in the Russian Federation about "regrouping" them in the temporarily occupied areas of the Kherson region.
In addition, earlier the Institute for the Study of War reported that the AFU are holding positions and expanding their presence on the left bank of the Kherson region.
According to British intelligence, the decisive factor in the battles for the left bank of Kherson Region will be the military's ability to use artillery intensively.
