Ukrainian Forces Claim Victories In The Area That Russia Has Annexed

On Monday, Ukrainian military maintained their offensive that has embarrassed Moscow, hinting at additional advances in the strategically important southern region of Kherson that Moscow seeks to acquire.

Kherson has been one of the most difficult battlegrounds for the Ukrainians, with slower advancement compared to Ukraine’s breakout attack around the nation’s second-largest city of Kharkiv, which started last month.

One of the four regions that Moscow illegally seized last week following a “referendum” arranged by the Kremlin is Kherson. The treaties will be ratified by the lower house of the Kremlin-controlled parliament on Monday, then by the upper house the next day.

Two of those territories, Donetsk and Luhansk, are joining Russia with the administrative borders that were in place prior to a struggle there in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday.

He stated that there is still debate over the two other regions’ borders, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Peskov stated in a conference call with reporters that “We will continue to discuss that with residents of those regions.” He didn’t give any more information.

On Monday, Ukrainian media sites highlighted a picture of Ukrainian soldiers flying flags at a sign for the settlement of Khreshchenivka, which is close to where troops reportedly crossed Russian lines in Kherson.

Since the summer, Ukraine has aggressively attacked Russian supply lines in the Kherson region while also making progress into Russian-held territory west of the Dnieper River.

The main Dnieper bridge in the city of Kherson as well as a dam that served as a secondary primary crossing have both been repeatedly struck by the Ukrainian military using HIMARS rocket launchers that were supplied by the United States.

Along with the main crossings, it has also damaged pontoon bridges that Russia used to supply its forces on the western bank of the river.

Despite successful attacks on supply lines, Ukrainian offensive operations in the south have so far been slower and less effective than those in the northeast because the open terrain made the invading force more vulnerable to Russian artillery and airstrikes.

A growing number of loyal to Moscow military blogs in Russia have conceded that Ukraine has superior personnel, supported by tank formations, in the region.

In a video statement on Monday morning, Kirill Stremousov, a Russian official who had been deployed in the Kherson region, acknowledged that the Ukrainian forces “had broken through a little deeper.” He emphasised, however, that “everything is under control” and that Russia’s “defence system is operating” in the area.

Using suicide drones, Russia bombed the hometown of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy and other targets on Sunday, and in a counteroffensive that changed the course of the war, Ukraine fully reclaimed control of a key eastern city.

Lyman, a city in eastern Russia that Russia had been utilising as a transportation and logistics hub, was recently lost, dealing another setback to the Kremlin’s attempts to intensify the conflict by forcibly annexing the four regions of Ukraine and amplifying threats to deploy nuclear weapons.

The land grab by Russian President Vladimir Putin has the potential to escalate the war to deadly new heights.

Ukraine formally submitted an application for fast-track NATO membership as a result of it. Zelenskyy spoke about the recent liberation of Lyman, a crucial Russian logistical hub on the front lines in the northeast, in his nightly address on Sunday.

The liberation of Lyman in the Donetsk region is currently the most well-known news story, but Zelenskyy insisted that Lyman was not the only place where our forces had achieved success.
Lyman is located in the Donetsk region close to the Luhansk border and was retaken by Ukraine after encircling Russian troops.

Zelenskyy hailed the military personnel from his hometown near Kherson in his broadcast as well.

To the Kryvy Rih, Ukraine-native warriors of the 129th Brigade who distinguished themselves with valour and particularly freed Arkhanhelske and Myroliubivka, he stated.

Both of those settlements are close to where Ukrainian forces have been advancing.

Over the weekend, a picture of an operation by Ukrainian forces south of Novovorontsovka on the banks of the Dnieper River surfaced.

Two civilians were murdered and 14 others were hurt in the past day’s worth of Russian shelling of eight Ukrainian districts, the presidential office of Ukraine.

Additionally, it detailed developments in the Kherson region and said that, in reaction, the Russian government put restrictions on persons leaving the city of Kherson and instituted special permissions for those who do so.

Since the Russian onslaught began in February, Ukrainian forces have recently been able to recapture large areas of land, particularly in the northeast near Kharkiv. This recent counteroffensive has humiliated the Kremlin and sparked unusual public criticism of Putin’s war.