Ukrainian forces continued their offensive in the south near the city of Kherson and in the north of the country around Kharkov. From the available reports, it is clear that the battlefield situation has been reversed. Ukrainians are attacking, Russians are defending.
The Ukrainians are trying to conquer several southern villages around Kherson and cut off the Russian soldiers from the supply lines on the left bank of the Dnieper. The important Antoniv Bridge over the Dnieper River, which connects Kherson with the rest of the Russian occupied territories to the east, was destroyed by Ukrainian fire and rendered impassable.
On the Northern Front, Ukrainian forces surprised Russian forces by attacking the city of Balakriya with a population of about 30,000.
Information from the battlefield is difficult to verify, journalists have no access to it, and no photographs or video footage are available. The Ukrainian government has imposed a strict embargo on reports of combat conditions during the Kherson Offensive.
Hromadske TV and server He spoke with several Ukrainian soldiers involved in the fighting on the Southern Front, that is, in the Kherson area. They generally state that the Ukrainian army is advancing, but slowly. Ukrainian flags flew in the liberated city of Vysokopilya on Tuesday and in Novovoznesensk on Wednesday.
About 20,000 Russian soldiers are currently concentrated in and around Kherson. According to Oleksiy Arrestovich, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian offensive should first cut off Russian forces at Kherson, destroy their weapons and ammunition depots, and cut off supplies. According to unconfirmed reports, Kyiv expects Ukrainian soldiers to enter his pre-war city of 300,000, possibly within a month and a half of him.
“We will not go on the offensive unless we know that Russia’s offensive capabilities are on the verge of depletion,” Arrestovich said on Tuesday.
Russian military spokesman Igor Konashenkov has claimed that information about the advance of Ukrainian troops to Kherson was false and that the offensive failed. However, even Russian sources admit that the situation for Russian troops north of the city of Baraklya near Kharkov is critical.
A Russian military blogger operating under the name Voenkor Kotenok on the Russian social network Telegram said that Balakriya is practically surrounded by Ukrainian forces. It is well positioned to reach the city of Kupyansk, especially the strategically important Izzh, where the Russians have large bases and transport military equipment by rail.
Daniil Bessonov, a pro-Russian separatist representative from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, also wrote on the Telegram social network that Russian forces would be vulnerable in Izyum if Ukrainians captured Balakli. “All access roads to Balakria are under attack and the city is under siege,” Bessonov explained.
Aleksandr Koch, a war correspondent for the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, even accused the Ministry of Defense of hiding the truth about the situation in the city.
Kupyansk city councilor Vadim Krochimar called on residents to evacuate to safer places with food supplies. “Soon the Ukrainian army will liberate Kupyansk.
Report from Ukraine
Photo: Aktuálně.cz
Aktuálněcz reporters Martin Novák and Jakub Plíhal have traveled the Ukrainian Southern Front for half a year since the beginning of the Russian invasion, and have brought the photo gallery directly from the site. We have already published:
