Ukrainian forces made their biggest advance in the south of the country since the war began in February, breaking through the front and advancing rapidly along the Dnipro River on Monday, threatening supply lines for thousands of Russian troops.
Kyiv gave no official confirmation of the gains, but Russian sources acknowledged that a Ukrainian tank offensive had advanced tens of kilometers along the west bank of the river, retaking a number of villages along the way.
The advance reflects Ukraine’s recent successes in the east that have turned the tide in the war against Russia, even as Moscow has sought to up the ante by annexing territory, ordering mobilization and threatening nuclear retaliation.
“The information is tense, let’s put it that way, because yes, yes there was progress,” Vladimir Saldo, a leader installed by Russia in the occupied areas of Ukraine’s Kherson province, told Russian state television .
“There is a settlement called Dudchany, right along the Dnipro River, and right there, in that region, there was a breakthrough. There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces.”
The advance to the south reflects the tactics that have brought Kyiv big gains since early September in eastern Ukraine. (CBC)
One of the fastest advances of the war
Dudchany is about 30 kilometers south of where the front was before the advance, indicating one of the fastest advances of the war, and by far the fastest in the south, where Russian forces had been dug into heavily fortified positions along a mostly static front line. since the first weeks of the February 24 invasion.
While Kyiv maintained an almost complete silence, as it has in the past during major offensives, some officials described what they called unconfirmed reports of gains.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, posted a photo of Ukrainian soldiers posing with their flag surrounding a golden statue of an angel. He said it was in the village of Mykhailivka, about 20 kilometers beyond the previous front.
Margaryta Tkachenko, 29, feeds her nine-month-old daughter, Sophia, in the recently recovered city of Izium, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press)
“In the last few days, we have seen the first photo of Osokorivka,” Serhiy Khlan, a member of the Kherson regional council, which named the villages in the area, told Reuters.
“We have seen our troops near the entrance to Mykhailivka, we have seen our troops in Khreshchenivka, next to the monument. This means that Zolota Balka is also under the control of our armed forces, and it means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro near Beryslav.
“Officially, there is no such information yet, but the [Russian] social media pages that are in a panic … absolutely confirm these photos.”
Similar tactics in the east
The advance in the south reflects tactics that have brought Kyiv big gains since early September in eastern Ukraine, where its forces have been rapidly gaining ground to gain control of Russian supply lines, cutting off the larger Russian forces and forcing them to withdraw.
Hours after a concert in Moscow’s Red Square on Friday, where Russian President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the provinces of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as Russian territory forever, Ukraine recaptured Lyman, the main Russian stronghold in north of Donetsk province.
That has opened the way for it to advance deep into Luhansk province, threatening the main supply routes into territory captured by Moscow in some of the bloodiest battles of the war in June and July.
To the south, Ukraine’s advance is targeting supply lines for thousands of Russian troops, perhaps as many as 25,000, on the west bank of the Dnipro. Ukraine has already destroyed the main bridges, forcing Russian forces to use makeshift crossings. A substantial advance downstream could cut them off completely.
“The fact that the front has been broken means that … the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend,” said Oleh Zhdanov, a military analyst based in Kyiv
“A month of our work destroying their supplies and reducing the combat effectiveness of this group means they are operating on minimal rations in terms of ammunition, fuel and food.”
Putin responds to failures with escalation
Putin has been responding to Russia’s battlefield failures over the past month with an escalation: proclaiming the annexation of occupied territory, calling up tens of thousands of men as reservists and threatening nuclear retaliation.
On Monday, Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament that is firmly under the control of Putin’s ruling party, passed bills endorsing the annexation of the four partially occupied Ukrainian provinces.
But Russia’s bad fortunes have caused a mood swing in the once triumphant state media, where talk show hosts have been acknowledging setbacks and looking for scapegoats.
LOOK | Ukrainian forces retake strategic railway town:
Ukrainian forces retake strategic railway town
The Ukrainian army has taken the strategic town of Lyman, forcing a Russian retreat into Donetsk and cutting off its supply lines.
“For a certain period of time, things will not be easy for us. We should not expect good news right now,” said Vladimir Solovyov, the most prominent anchor on state television.
The commander of Russia’s western military district, which borders Ukraine, has lost his job, Russian media reported on Monday, the latest in a string of senior officials sacked following the defeats.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Putin leader of Russia’s Chechnya province who commands a personal army, demanded that the commander of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine be stripped of his medals and sent to the front.
Kadyrov also said Russia should use a nuclear weapon. Putin and other officials have said they might use nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory, including newly annexed provinces, but so far have not explicitly said they will. Asked about Kadyrov’s remarks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “This is a very emotional moment.”
A Ukrainian military man inspects a basement of a kindergarten that was used by Russian forces in the newly retaken area of Kapitolivka, Ukraine, on Sunday. (Evegniy Maloletka/The Associated Press)
“The heads of regions have the right to express their point of view,” Peskov told reporters. “Even in difficult times, emotions must be excluded from any evaluation.”
Putin’s other big gamble, Russia’s first massive military mobilization since World War II, has been mired in chaos. Tens of thousands of Russian men have been called up, while a similar number have fled abroad. Western countries say Moscow lacks the supplies and manpower to train or equip the new recruits.
Ukraine-Russia news roundup
Here are some other news about the countries involved in the conflict:
- The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said Ihor Murashov, director general of Ukraine’s and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia, has been released from the Russian custody after his arrest last week.
- Sweden on Monday sent a diving vessel to the site of Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea that ruptured last week after explosions in the area, to investigate an incident that has added new tension to Europe’s energy crisis. Europe is investigating what caused three Nord Stream oil pipelines to explode in a suspected act of sabotage that Moscow quickly tried to pin on the West, suggesting the United States was winning.
- A Russian court on Monday set October 25 as the date for American basketball star Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.