The Ukrainian army has launched a major offensive to recapture the city of Cherson in the south of the country, which has been occupied by Russian troops for months. “Strong artillery attacks on enemy positions were underway throughout the region,” deputy head of the regional council Serhiy Khlan told Pryamy TV on Monday. The aim is to push the Russian troops back to the other bank of the Dnipro.
“This is the announcement of what we have been waiting for since spring – the beginning of the end of the occupation in the Kherson region,” Chlan said. Cherson, located near the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia, was the first major city in Ukraine to be taken by the Russian army in early March following a three-day siege.
Meanwhile, Russia says it has repelled a Ukrainian offensive in the occupied areas of Cherson and Mykolaiv in the south of the country. The attacks took place in three places, the Ministry of Defense said in Moscow. The Ukrainian side suffered heavy losses, it said. The information might not be independently verified.
The southern command of the Ukrainian military announced on Monday that the offensive was going in different directions, including the region around the city of Kherson. The civilian population was called on to leave the contested areas. For two months it has been expected that Ukraine will attack the territories occupied by Russia in the south.
Hit Russian ammunition depots
Ukraine’s Southern Command spokeswoman Natalia Humenyuk said recent attacks on Russian supply routes had “undoubtedly weakened the enemy.” Within the past week, ten Russian ammunition depots have been hit.
She did not provide any further information regarding the offensive. However, she pointed out that the Russian armed forces in the south were “quite strong” and had been built up over a longer period of time. Russia currently controls around 20 percent of Ukraine’s territory. In the past few weeks, Russian troops have concentrated on eastern and southern Ukraine along the Black Sea coast.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine have started offensive actions in many sections of southern Ukraine,” Hromadske Humenyuk was quoted as saying. Accordingly, units of the Donetsk separatists and supporting Russian marine infantry are said to have been forced to retreat. The information might not be independently verified.
Defective Ukrainian MP killed
Several people were killed in Russian shelling of private houses in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv, according to the authorities. “The center of the city is under heavy shelling. Rockets are still being fired. Do not leave the shelters,” regional governor Vitaly Kim wrote on Telegram.
A Ukrainian deputy who defected to Russia was also killed in occupied southern Ukraine. According to preliminary information, parliamentarian Oleksiy Kovalyov was shot dead in his house, the Russian criminal investigation authorities said on Telegram. His girlfriend was also killed in the attack. According to Ukrainian sources, she died in hospital as a result of a knife wound. Several Ukrainian representatives had previously reported the attack and the death of the deputy.
The 33-year-old had already survived a bomb attack in June. The agricultural entrepreneur was elected to the Supreme Rada in 2019 via a direct mandate in the Cherson region for the presidential party Servants of the People. In April, following returning to his home region, he was expelled from the party and parliamentary group on suspicion of cooperation with Moscow. The public prosecutor’s office investigated high treason. In the occupation authority of the Cherson region, he served as deputy regional chief and minister of agriculture. (dpa / Archyde.com)
