Ukraine has said its troops have pushed Russian forces three to eight kilometers away from the Dnipro on its left bank in Kherson region, as it continues to establish a significant bridgehead in the area.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Operational Command South, said on Sunday it meant Russian mortar fire is no longer a threat to the right bank settlements.
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“Tentatively, the distance varies from 3 to 8 kilometers, depending on the specifics of geography and landscape across the left bank,” she said.
“Now their mortars can’t hit the right bank, so we see it as a certain achievement.”
Humeniuk estimated Russian forces in the area still number several tens of thousands, adding: "The enemy still continues artillery fire on the right bank."
“There’s a massive force there so we’ve plenty of work to do,” she said, adding that Ukrainian forces are not recording any Russian offensive groupings being formed at the moment, meaning they have no capacity to prepare for any assault efforts.
The announcement comes following Kyiv’s first official announcement last Tuesday acknowledging that one month ago its forces had captured a bridgehead there – an important goal in Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
A bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro would allow a deeper offensive in the south, though it would require deploying more men and armour in the difficult-to-reach marshy region.
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Ukraine’s Marine command in a Friday statement claimed its fighters destroyed hundreds of Russian combat vehicles in battles on the east bank of the Dnipro River.
Friday’s statement was the first official announcement by Kyiv of Russian losses, resulting from Russian attempts, thus far unsuccessful, to eliminate fortified Kyiv footholds on the eastern (left) bank of Ukraine’s biggest waterway, in the southern Kherson region.
The first Ukrainian cross-river raids, by special operations troops aboard small boats, were reported in open sources in May.
Official Russian army statements in October acknowledged Kyiv forces were operating on the east bank of the Dnipro, but characterized them as weak in strength and each in turn eliminated by Russian artillery and air strikes.
On Oct. 30 the Kremlin sacked the general commanding all Russian forces in the southern sector, reportedly, because he and his staff concealed from their Moscow bosses the fact that the Ukrainian crossing was for the first time in strength.
In a Nov. 9 report, ISW said that the Russian military command will likely face challenges in transferring combat-capable reinforcements to respond to Ukrainian operations on the left bank of the Kherson region.
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