Russian forces in the occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain the flow of ammunition, armor and fuel to frontline units, according to Ukrainian officials and Western analysts, thanks to a concerted Ukrainian campaign to cut off river and rail supply lines as well as target ammunition depots.
The Russians are moving command posts from north of the Dnipro River to the south bank because the bridges have been heavily damaged, according to Ukrainian officials.
The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, claimed on his Telegram channel that a significant part of the Russian military command had already left the city of Kherson. The Ukrainian forces are about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the city, towards Mykolaiv.
Much of the Kherson region has been occupied since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As part of the Kyiv counter-offensive in an attempt to retake lost territory in the south, Ukrainian forces are targeting critical bridges to disrupt supply routes in and around Kherson.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said on Sunday that Russians could move across the river “to avoid being trapped in the city of Kherson if Ukrainian strikes cut all land lines of communication connecting the right bank of the Dnipro River to the Russian rear.”
Videos have emerged on social media in recent days showing new long-range artillery attacks on the Antonivskyi Bridge and a road bridge over the dam near Nova Kakhovka, making them impassable for heavily armored vehicles. In some areas, the river is up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) wide, making pontoon bridges impractical.
The Ukrainians also targeted several railway lines from the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. On Tuesday, a series of violent explosions rocked the town of Dzankhoy on the main line to Kherson. Recent video showed a large stockpile of military vehicles and ammunition at the site.
Two railway lines from Crimea have been hit in the past 10 days. Last week, local residents reported several hours of explosions in Henichesk district, a port area along the Sea of Azov, and the railway further west in Brylivka was also hit.
“Over the past week, we have destroyed more than 10 ammunition warehouses and groups of military equipment. These shots do not allow the transfer of heavy equipment through these bridges,” the army’s Southern Operational Command said. Ukrainian.
None of this suggests an imminent Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
Olga Voitovych, Yulia Kesaieva and Mariya Knight contributed reporting.
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