The Ukrainian reconquest continues, slowly but surely.
After the victorious counter-offensive around Kharkiv in the east at the beginning of September, then the recapture of the strategic town of Lyman on Saturday, the kyiv army is advancing in the south-west of Ukraine, towards Kherson, the only regional capital whose the Russians have seized since February 24 and a vast city of 280,000 inhabitants which borders the two banks of the Dnieper at its mouth.
The localities of Khreshchenivka, but also Dudchany, 100 kilometers from Kherson were liberated.
The Russian army would have retreated nearly 40 kilometers.
In order to retake the city, the Ukrainians attempted to replicate the encirclement maneuver that had been effective at Lyman.
They therefore progress along the Dnieper.
The Russian army, isolated west of the Dnieper on the right bank, is also experiencing supply difficulties.
Indeed, the bridges connecting it to its bases located on the left bank are regularly bombarded by the Ukrainian army and almost all of them are destroyed.
Floating bridges are built, but also under the fire of artillery from kyiv.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: why the Ukrainian victory at Lyman is strategic
"
It's tense, let's
put it this way ," admitted Vladimir Saldo, the leader installed by Russia in Kherson, on state television.
Ukraine has liberated the locality of Dudchany, but “
the situation remains complicated, hostilities continue
”, comments the Ukrainian presidency on Monday.
According to Kiev, "
the enemy is looking for ways to improve the logistical supply of its troops, continues to set up alternative (water) crossings and repairs near Antonivsky and Kakhovka bridges
" above the River.
"
When so many Russian channels sound the alarm, it usually means they're in trouble
," tweeted Rob Lee, a researcher at the US think tank.
Foreign Policy Research Institute
by posting screenshots of Russian military bloggers.
This vast counter-offensive in Kherson, announced several months ago, has already enabled kyiv to regain 500 square kilometers since the beginning of September.
It would have created "
a breath of fresh air
" for the Russian troops who stripped other fronts to reinforce that of Kherson, as Joseph Henrotin, editor-in-chief of the journal Defense and International Security and researcher at the Center analysis and forecasting of international risks with Le
Figaro
.
“
In Kherson, the Russians are on an “
island
» : the city and all the area of land around it are west of the Dnieper.
However, for two months, the Ukrainians have been hitting the bridges, destroying the pontoons behind them and the Russian Navy no longer ventures into the western Black Sea.
A withdrawal by sea of Russian forces has therefore become extremely difficult
,” he added.
Kherson Oblast, like those of Zaporijjia, Luhansk and Donetsk, was annexed by Russia after Potemkin referendums.
But Moscow announced on Monday that it wanted to "consult" the population of the annexed regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia to establish the borders.
Borders which, no doubt, will be defined more than ever by the sound of arms.
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