Ukrainian forces pressed their counteroffensive to retake the Russian-occupied southern region of Kherson, while a team of UN experts were en route to inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which was targeted by fresh shelling over the weekend.
The coastal region of Kherson and its capital city of the same name have been contested by Russian troops since the war broke out six months ago.
“Ukrainian armed forces have launched their offensive in several areas in the south,” said Yaroslav Yanushevych, the head of the regional administration, on the Telegram messaging app.
Photo: AFP
In his daily address on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy did not specifically mention the counteroffensive, but said the nation would oust the occupying forces “to the border.”
“If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee. Go home,” Zelenskiy said.
Russian forces seized Kherson town on March 3.
It was the first major city to fall following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
“Today there was a powerful artillery attack on enemy positions in ... the occupied Kherson region,” local government official Sergey Khlan told Ukraine’s Pryamyi TV channel. “This is what we have been waiting for since the spring — it is the beginning of the de-occupation of Kherson region.”
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Ukraine’s move was already having an impact on Russian military capabilities, as it forced them to reposition forces and deplete some units in the east.
“Because the Russians have had to pull resources from the east simply because of reports that the Ukrainians might be going more on the offense in the south,” Kirby told reporters on Monday, CNN reported.
A senior Pentagon official said that Russia was struggling to find soldiers to fight in Ukraine and that many new recruits were older, in poor shape and lacking training.
Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that it had repulsed attacks in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, and inflicted “heavy losses” on Ukrainian forces.
Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command, had said Kyiv’s forces were attacking from many directions to push the Russians back to the other bank of the Dnipro River.
The Southern Command wrote on Facebook yesterday that the situation remained “tense” in its area of operations.
“The enemy attacked our positions five times, but was unsuccessful,” it said.
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