The Ukrainian army announced that it had launched an offensive in the south of the country. Ukrainian media, quoting army sources, reported that the attacking forces managed to penetrate the first Russian defense line in some places in the Kherson region.
Ukrainians prepare their positions | Photo: Madeleine Kelly / SOPA Images / Sipa USA | Source: Reuters
“Ukrainian armed forces launched an offensive in southern Ukraine from several directions,” Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Hominiukova was quoted by the newspaper Okranska Pravda as saying.
Citing several sources in the Ukrainian army, the newspaper said that a regiment of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) withdrew from its unspecified positions in the Kherson region, and the Russian paratroopers who were supposed to provide support for the unit fled. It was not possible to verify the information from independent sources.
The Ukrainian leadership talked about launching an offensive in the south of the country from June, and then in mid-July President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the army to retake this part of Ukraine.
The attack was preceded by weeks of continuous bombardment of bridges over the Dnieper River, weapons depots, and other Russian logistical targets in the Kherson region by Ukrainian long-range artillery.
