At the weekend, Ukraine reported the first successes of its counter-offensive in the south of the country. A key adviser to President Zelenskyy now confirms the armed forces' strategy for recapturing the Kherson region. The British secret services are already seeing initial successes.
The Ukrainian leadership is optimistic that they can retake the Kherson region in the south of the country. The liberation of Kherson "has already begun," said Oleksy Arestovych, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on the night.
The goal is to cut off and isolate Russian troops in the region from supply lines by destroying important bridges. "The Ukrainian armed forces will first deprive the enemy of ammunition, fuel, communications and command staff," Arestovych said. "Then they will eliminate the remnants of the Russian army."
According to him, the Russian soldiers had only three options: "Retreat, surrender or be destroyed." President Selenskyj had already shown himself confident of victory at the weekend. He explained that Ukrainian troops in the "move forward step by step". The information cannot be independently verified.
The British secret services seem to share this assessment. The British Ministry of Defense announced on Twitter in its latest intelligence update that the counter-offensive in the south of the country was gaining momentum. The Ukrainian troops probably established a bridgehead south of the Ingulez River, which forms the northern border of the occupied region.
The Ukrainian attacks on at least three bridges that cross the Dnipro (Russian: Dnieper) and are important for Russian supplies were successful, according to British intelligence. "Russia's 49th Army is stationed on the west bank of the Dnipro and looks very vulnerable," the situation report said. In addition, the city of Cherson is now practically cut off from the other occupied areas. "Losing the city would significantly hamper Russia's attempt to occupy southern Ukraine."
Ukraine's first successes in the region had already become known in the past few days. Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces are said to have encircled more than 1,000 Russian soldiers near the Vysokopillya settlement. On Wednesday, the Russian regional administration announced that the important Antonivka automobile bridge over the Dnipro River (Russian: Dnepr) had to be closed to traffic after several Ukrainian airstrikes. According to Arestovych, the Russian defense high command has initiated a "massive movement" of troops towards the three southern regions of Kherson, Melitopol and Zaporizhia.
Russia had captured the southern Ukrainian region on the Black Sea immediately after the start of the war at the end of February. Separatists there who are loyal to Moscow recently announced that they want to hold a referendum on joining Russia. Ukraine wants to prevent this and wants to retake the area with the help of heavy weapons supplied by the USA and other NATO countries.
The Ukrainian armed forces are said to have repeatedly and successfully attacked bridges in the region in recent days, primarily using the US HIMARS multiple rocket launcher. These cross the Dnipro and the Ingulez tributary and are central to supplying Russian troops west of the rivers.
