6 hours ago
Ukrainian soldiers prepare artillery fire on the southern front line near Kherson last month
The Ukrainian army announced that it had breached the first line of defense of the Russian forces controlling the Kherson region.
The advances claimed by Ukraine appear to be part of a long-awaited counter-offensive by Kyiv in an attempt to retake the south of the country.
This comes following weeks of Ukrainian attacks that aimed to cut off Russian forces there from the main supply routes.
The Russian military claims that Ukrainian forces suffered “heavy losses” during a failed attack attempt.
The BBC has not been able to verify Ukraine and Russia’s allegations in an impartial manner.
Kherson was the first major Ukrainian city to fall into Russian hands following troops advanced into the city from Crimea in the early days of the war.
Ukraine’s Kakhovka Operations Group in the south said early Monday that a regiment of Russian-backed forces had left their positions in the Kherson region.
She added that the Russian paratroopers who provided support fled the battlefield.
Later Oleksiy Aristovich, adviser to the chief of staff of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said that the Ukrainian armed forces had “penetrated the front line in several places”.
Witnesses reported that they heard more explosions in the cities of Kherson and Nova Kakhovka, regarding 55 kilometers northeast of the regional capital.
The Ukrainian army has targeted the main crossings across the Dnipro River at the two sites more than once in recent weeks.
Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti, reported that Nova Kakhovka was left without electricity and water supply overnight.
President Zelensky, in a late-night video address, warned the Russian forces: “If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian soldiers to flee and go home.”
Zelensky and other senior Ukrainian officials were silent regarding the details of the counterattack they spoke of, urging the Ukrainians to be patient.
In response to the Ukrainian allegations, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian forces had attempted to launch an attack in Kherson and the neighboring Mykolaiv regions.
Russian state news agencies quoted the ministry as saying that the operation had been unsuccessful and that the Ukrainian forces had “incurred heavy losses”.
Officials in Kyiv claim that they used US-supplied HIMARS missile systems to destroy three bridges across the Dnipro River.
The Army’s Southern Command said it destroyed Russian makeshift pontoon bridges over the river.
The Kyiv strikes, according to Western military sources, are aimed at isolating the Russian forces on the right (western) bank of the river in order to eventually restore the entire Kherson region.
Moscow relied on these bridges to resupply its forces.
analysis: Hugo Bachiga – BBC correspondent in Kyiv
It was always expected that Ukraine would launch a major offensive to retake Kherson. This may be his beginning, although any military operation may not be easy.
Kherson has been under occupation since the early days of the war, and is one of the largest Ukrainian cities that fell into the hands of the Russians.
For weeks, Ukrainian forces repeatedly targeted Russian positions deep in the territory captured by Russian forces, far from the front lines.
The Ukrainians were able to do this with the help of advanced weapons provided by the West, which might have a destabilizing effect on the invading forces.
The conflict appears to have reached a stalemate, with neither side achieving significant gains. This situation may be regarding to change.
Kherson, which had a pre-war population of 290,000, is the only regional capital captured by Russian forces and is currently run by Moscow-backed officials.
Officials in the Kherson region, according to Russia’s TASS news agency, have begun to press ahead with plans to hold a referendum on its formal accession to Russia, prompting US accusations that Russia may be preparing to illegally annex parts of occupied southern Ukraine.
Last month, Russia said its military focus was no longer just on eastern Ukraine, but on the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the south as well.
Speaking to the RIA news agency, the head of the Russian administration, Kirill Strimosov, insisted that the city was not under threat of attack. “The more the area is bombed, the more its residents will demand a referendum,” he said.
Elsewhere, at least two people were killed and 24 injured following Russian shelling of the nearby city of Mykolaiv, city officials said.
Russian officials claimed, in a separate development Monday, in the Zaporizhia region that a Ukrainian missile attack punched a hole in the roof of a fuel depot at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
This claim has not been verified by impartial sources.
Ukraine and Russia have accused each other, in recent weeks, of bombing Europe’s largest nuclear plant, which Russia seized in early March. Moscow kept the Ukrainian workers to operate the station.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the world had narrowly avoided a radiological accident at the station, blaming Moscow’s actions.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said a United Nations agency inspection team is expected to arrive at the plant later this week.