Russia may have delayed announcing its withdrawal from Kherson in order to sway the outcome of the midterm elections in favour of Republicans, according to sources familiar with US intelligence.
Republicans failed to achieve the hoped-for “red wave,” and Democrats retained control of the US Senate after holding seats in key swing states Arizona and Nevada.
According to the most recent NBC News projection, Republicans will win 220 House seats to the Democrats’ 215.
That means the Republicans would still take control but with much less authority than the 40+ gains anticipated by some pollsters.
Now, sources have suggested that Russia delayed its Kherson withdrawal announcement in part to stop the Democrats from a political lead.
One source said the US elections were a “pre-planned condition” when it came to Russia’s acknowledgement that it was not succeeding in the Kherson region.
Meanwhile another source told CNN: “Even though there is still robust bipartisan agreement on Ukraine, the party that has been much more vocally supportive is the Democratic Party, and particularly the Biden administration.”
In Washington last week, President Joe Biden also appeared to notice the timing of Russia’s announcement as he described how Russia’s decision to leave Kherson was “evidence” they had “some real problems”.
He said: “I find it interesting that they waited until after the [US midterm] election to make that judgement.”
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