The White House hailed what appears to be an “extraordinary victory” for Ukraine following the forced withdrawal of the Russian military and the recapture of the city of Kherson, in the south, France Presse reports. “The only regional capital that Russia had seized in this war is now back under the Ukrainian flag, which is quite remarkable,” the White House security adviser Jake Sullivan, who accompanies President Joe Biden to the ASEAN summit in Cambodia, said. Asked about reports that the Biden administration has started to press President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to explore negotiations with Moscow, Sullivan said that Russia, not Ukraine, was the side that has to decide whether or not to go to the table. “If Russia chose to stop fighting in Ukraine and left, it would be the end of the war. If Ukraine chose to stop fighting and give up, it would be the end of Ukraine,” he said.
