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| Photo Credit: AP. |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian troops pushed forward Monday with their offensive that has embarrassed Moscow, with Kyiv officials and foreign observers hinting at new gains in the strategic southern region of Kherson that the Kremlin wants to annex.
Kherson has
been one of the toughest battlefields for the Ukrainians, with slower progress
when compared with Ukraine’s breakout offensive around the country’s second
largest city of Kharkiv, in the northeast, that began last month.
Kherson is
one of the four regions illegally annexed by Moscow last week after a
“referendum” orchestrated by the Kremlin. The lower house of the
Kremlin-controlled parliament ratified the treaties Monday, and the upper house
will follow on Tuesday.
Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday that two of those regions, Donetsk and
Luhansk, are joining Russia with their administrative borders that existed
before a conflict erupted there in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and
Ukrainian forces. He noted that the issue of the borders of the two other
regions — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — remains open.
“We will
continue to discuss that with residents of those regions,” Peskov said in a
conference call with reporters. He did not provide additional details.
Ukrainian
media outlets on Monday highlighted an image of Ukrainian troops displaying
flags at a marker for the village of Khreshchenivka, which is in the same area
of Kherson where troops apparently have broken through Russian lines.
Ukraine has
pressed its counteroffensive in the Kherson region since the summer,
relentlessly pummeling Russian supply lines and making inroads into the areas
west of the Dnieper River held by the Russians.
The
Ukrainian military has successfully used U.S.-supplied HIMARS multiple rocket
launchers to repeatedly hit the main bridge across the Dnieper in the city of
Kherson and a dam that served as a second main crossing. It also has struck
pontoon bridges that Russia has used to supply its troops on the western bank
of the river after the main crossings were made inoperable.
Despite the
successful strikes on supply lines, Ukrainian offensive operations in the south
so far have been slower and less successful compared with the northeast, as the
open terrain easily exposed the attacking force to Russian artillery fire and
airstrikes.
Russian
military bloggers close to Moscow have increasingly acknowledged that Ukraine
has superior manpower, backed by tank units, in the area.
A
Russian-installed official in the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, admitted
in a video statement on Monday morning that the Ukrainian forces “have broken
through a little deeper.” However, he insisted that “everything is under
control” and that Russia’s “defense system is working” in the region.
Russia
attacked Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s hometown and other targets
Sunday with suicide drones, and Ukraine took back full control of a strategic
eastern city in a counteroffensive that has reshaped the war.
Russia’s
recent loss of the eastern city of Lyman, which it had been using as a
transport and logistics hub, was a new blow to the Kremlin as it seeks to
escalate the war by illegally annexing the four regions of Ukraine and
heightening threats to use nuclear force.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin’s land grab has threatened to push the conflict to a
dangerous new level. It also prompted Ukraine to formally apply for fast-track
NATO membership
In his
nightly address Sunday, Zelenskyy discussed the recent liberation of Lyman, a
key Russian node for logistics on the front line in the northeast.
“The story
of the liberation of Lyman in the Donetsk region has now become the most
popular in the media — but the successes of our soldiers are not limited to
Lyman,” Zelenskyy said.
Lyman, which
Ukraine recaptured by encircling Russian troops, is in the Donetsk region near
the border with Luhansk.
In his
broadcast, Zelenskyy also thanked troops from his hometown near Kherson.
“To the
soldiers of the 129th Brigade of my native Kryvy Rih, who distinguished
themselves with good results and liberated, in particular, Arkhanhelske and
Myroliubivka,” he said.
Those two
villages are in the same area where Ukrainian troops have been making advances.
A photo emerged at the weekend showing Ukrainian forces’ operation southwest of
Novovorontsovka on the banks of the Dnieper River.
Ukraine’s
presidential office said Monday that Russian shelling of eight Ukrainian
regions over the past 24 hours killed two civilians and injured 14 more.
It also
reported advances in the Kherson region and said that the Russian authorities
in response restricted people from leaving the city of Kherson, introducing
special permits for those who want to leave.
Since the Russian offensive started in February, Ukrainian forces have recently managed to retake swaths of territory, notably in the northeast around Kharkiv, in a counteroffensive in recent weeks that has embarrassed the Kremlin and prompted rare domestic criticism of Putin’s war.