Amid naturally contradictory reports in a war that is primarily propaganda, the counteroffensive announced by Ukraine to try to retake Russian-occupied areas in the south of the country saw more intense fighting on Tuesday (30).
Of course, Kiev says it is making progress and Moscow says the Ukrainian attempts have all been rebuffed. In common, only the agreement that there is fighting going on in the Kherson region, whose namesake capital was the first significant city to be taken by the Russians, on March 3, shortly after the February 24 invasion.
Ukrainian websites showed videos of shootings recorded in the city, which had 280,000 people before the war. It is not possible to confirm its veracity yet, but the Russian city administration has confirmed that there have been conflicts in the region.
Indeed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov only said on Tuesday that “the special military operation is proceeding according to plan”, the mantra of his boss Vladimir Putin. He responded to the threat made by the president’s Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, who the night before had said that the Russians would need to flee to survive.
The offensive launched on Monday has not yet been defined, which raises doubts about Kiev’s ability to effectively break through Russian lines, which were reinforced during the month in which the action was advertised by Zelensky in order to gain more support. Western military.
During this period, Ukraine introduced the use of US Himars precision missile artillery systems. They were used to attack Russian ammunition depots and barracks farther from the front lines, and also to help isolate the city of Kherson.
As it is separated from the rest of Russian-occupied territory by the Dnieper River, the regional capital is in a vulnerable position. Bridges were attacked and closed, forcing the construction of pontoons and the use of barges to transport supplies to the city by the Russians.
Still, a physical takeover of the city would require the kind of attrition combat the Russians have preferred in the war, with great destruction, and unlike other occupied places there are many Ukrainians still living in Kherson.
While the actual direction of the offensive is not known, some details begin to emerge from its preparation. According to the American newspaper Washington Post, Kiev built several wooden models of the Himars launchers to deceive the Russians and make them waste missiles and artillery.
It’s a tactic as old as war, and in this case it would have been used to attract drones from Moscow that direct the firing of missiles and howitzers. This would explain the high number of Himars systems the Russians say they have destroyed (6 of the 16 delivered so far) and the continued use of the weaponry.
Again, it could just be propaganda, as it happens side by side. According to the governor of the Mikolaiv region, which is annexed to Kherson and was the point at which Russian troops stopped on their way to the port of Odessa, “heavy fighting continues”. “The release will come soon,” Vitali Kim told local TV.
Some villages were taken over, Ukrainian media said, while the Russian Defense Ministry posted a video of a village completely obliterated, saying it had been “liberated”. Meanwhile, fighting continues in parts of Donetsk, an eastern province whose part still under Kiev’s control has been under attack since Moscow conquered neighboring Lugansk.
