Since August 29, which marks the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, the road between Mykolaiv and Kherson became one of the main axes of the war which began on February 24 with the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Ukrainian troops are approaching Kherson, the inhabitants have been evacuated by the Russian army to the territories it keeps under its control (kyiv speaks of “deportations”) and the latter prepares for a siege.
And if, in the north of the country, the Ukrainian counter-offensive has made it possible to reconquer territories conceded almost without fighting by the Russian forces since September, none of the belligerents expects the same to happen in Kherson, which was, for the record, the first major Ukrainian city taken by the Russians at the start of the conflict.
Kherson and its oblast of the same name are, in fact, a gateway to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, and the Sea of Azov. His downfall would leave Russian President Vladimir Putin virtually empty-handed after a war that left him an outcast in the eyes of much of the world and returned Russia to Soviet-era isolation.
On the ground, Ukraine’s battle for Kherson began a few days ago with a methodical assault delivered with long-range missiles that Washington agreed, after reluctance, to begin delivering at the end of May. The Ukrainians successfully targeted the arms depots and supply routes used by Russia for its soldiers in Kherson. The idea was to force the Russians to be content with the weapons they had and to prevent them from obtaining more. Then they started pounding them.
Echoes of the war around Kotliareve, where an Agence France-Presse journalist is currently staying, suggest that Ukraine’s strategy is bearing fruit. The Russians respond to the Ukrainian barrage with sporadic volleys. The Ukrainians are therefore advancing, but slowly. The challenge for them is to avoid street fights in a city held by the Russians and which can, in fact, turn into an ambush. They therefore play on the weakening of the supply of the city, going up the road between Mykolaiv and Kherson. The October 8 attack that damaged the Crimean bridge linking Russia with the annexed peninsula, attributed by Moscow to Ukraine, can also be read as a way of hampering Russian supplies (coming from the south through Crimea ).
Side Donbass, we did not hear back from the journalists on site this morning. We do, however, have the daily update from the Ukrainian general staff, which affirms that“in the past twenty-four hours, the enemy launched 5 missiles and carried out 23 airstrikes, launched more than 100 MLRS [roquettes envoyées depuis des lance-roquettes multiples]. Neighborhoods in over 45 cities have been affected by this criminal activity. Among them, Sloviansk and Siversk, in Donetsk Oblast”. And to add: “The enemy is trying to hold the temporarily captured territories and concentrate their efforts to curb the actions of the defense forces [ukrainiennes] in certain directions [vers Kherson notamment], without ceasing offensive operations in the directions of Bakhmout and Avdiivka. »