The zone, conquered by the Russian army at the start of the war, is of great strategic and symbolic importance.
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The Ukrainian army undertook a counter-offensive in the Kherson region on Monday, August 29 in the morning, as the sources on both sides of the front line attest. The magnitude and success of this operation, still in progress Tuesday morning, are the subject of divergent analyzes.
Expected for several months, the Ukrainian counter-offensive consists in finding weak points in the lines of defense of the Russian army, whose offensive has stalled in this area from April. The spokesperson for the southern operational command of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, confirmed Monday evening that the Ukrainian armed forces had launched an offensive “in many directions in the south” of the country.
According to the information snippets circulating on social networks, the Ukrainian army would have partially or completely recupeted three villages: Pravdine (30 km west of the city of Kherson); Blahodativka and Stary Stavok (about 70 km northeast of Kherson). Several assaults, conversely, failed (Blagodatne, Lioubimivka). The counter-offensive is complicated by the fact that the Russian forces had time to establish solid defense positions. The front goes along for its major part the Ingoulets river, flock to the right bank of the DniePr, and other rivers.
“Intense fights” take place in the “almost all” of the occupied region of Kherson, according to the Ukrainian presidency. On the Russian side, the Ministry of Defense reports that “Ukrainian troops have attempted an offensive on three axes in the Mykolaïv and Kherson regions. Following the defense actions of the Russian forces group, the Ukrainian units have undergone heavy losses. It is a new attempt as an enemy offensive that fails miserably “.
” The battle is just beginning “
The former Russian War of Donbass, Igor Guirkine, very critical with regard to the “lack of grip” of the Kremlin and the “incompetence” of the staff, estimates more finely that the Ukrainian offensive is led on two axes “by insignificant forces in order to divert attention from the main effort” in an area where the Ukrainian forces have managed to cross the Ingoulets river. According to Mr. Guirkine, one of the rare Russian sources both informed and not hesitating to deviate from the official wooden language, “the enemy has managed to” swell a bubble “on the southern bank of Ingoulets , but has failed to significantly extend its grip in the east and west directions, which gives good chance to overcome it with our reinforcements (…). However, the battle is just beginning and it is unlikely that the enemy is limited to the already inflicted blows “.
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