Staff Reports
It was speculated on Tuesday that Ukraine had launched its long-awaited counteroffensive in an attempt to shift the tide of conflict after it claimed to have destroyed bridges, ammo depots, and command headquarters in the Russian-occupied south. The Russians said they were able to fend off the attack, but many people died in the process.
The region of Kherson was the site of intense fighting, as it was there that Moscow's forces achieved some of their first notable advances of the conflict. Yet the Ukrainian government gave few hints as to its true objectives, leaving the rest of the world in the dark.
Several Ukrainian units have reportedly upped artillery fire in front-line sectors across southern Ukraine, according to an intelligence report from the United Kingdom's Defense Ministry. However, independent verification of battlefield action has been difficult.
Kherson, a key economic centre adjacent to the Black Sea with a prewar population of roughly 300,000, fell to the Russians as the war entered its sixth month. However, Russia views the port as a strategic node along a land corridor leading from its border to the Crimean Peninsula, which it annexed in 2014.
The occupying forces are trying to force the local population to accept Russian citizenship and cease using Ukrainian currency by threatening to hold a referendum on the issue of annexing the Kherson region to Russia.
Powerful explosions persisted during the day and evening in the Kherson region, the Ukrainian presidential administration said.
Heavy fighting can be found almost everywhere in the region. This office claims that Ukrainian forces destroyed Russian supply depots and all major bridges over the Dnieper River.
Additionally, Ukrainian forces said they had damaged a pontoon bridge that Russian forces were putting across the Dnieper and had targeted a dozen command centers with artillery fire.
Blasts rocked Kherson on Tuesday morning, likely generated by air defense systems, according to Tass, the Russian state news agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his Monday night video message, seemed to address rumors of a big counteroffensive, saying, no truly responsible person will hear specifics from any actually responsible person about Kyiv's objectives, since this is war.
The British have said that the majority of Russian units in the area of Kherson are likely under-manned and rely on unstable supply routes, and that the Russian military in the area is currently undergoing a major reorganization.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov claimed that their forces held up successfully, while Ukraine lost hundreds of soldiers and tanks on Monday. His assertion could not be confirmed by a third party.
It will be feasible to talk about the efficiency of Ukrainian activities only if large cities are retaken, according to Ukrainian independent military researcher Oleh Zhdanov. Additionally, he said, "it did not result in results" when Ukrainian forces broke through the first and second lines of defense in the Kherson area.
Zhdanov emphasized the importance of Ukrainian artillery's work on bridges that the Russian military can no longer utilize.
The battle has stalled in recent months despite escalating losses, widespread destruction, and widespread suffering among the civilian population as a result of constant shelling in the east and south. At least nine civilians, according to Ukrainian officials, were murdered in Russian shelling across the country on Saturday, from the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv to the northeastern industrial capital of Kharkiv, where five people were killed in the city center.
A team from the United Nations Atomic Energy Agency set out on a mission to inspect and secure the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which was held by Russia at the time. Both Ukraine and Russia have been accused of shelling the area multiple times.
Nikopol, the city across the Dnieper from the facility, reportedly sustained damage to a bus station, stores, and a children's library, according to local authorities. According to Ukraine, a city called Zaporizhzhia was hit by a Russian missile strike while it was just around 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the facility.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on The Daily Cable.
