Ukrainian military officials assured this Saturday that their troops are trying to repel Russian forces on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, a day after Kiev claimed several positions on that side of the river that partially divides the occupied Kherson region.
The establishment of Ukrainian positions on the banks of the Dnieper, controlled by Russians and local Russian-speaking separatist forces, represents a small but potential strategic advance in a conflict currently stuck on the ground. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said its forces repelled 12 Russian army attacks between Friday and today.
The Ukrainians are now trying to “drive Russian army units back as far as possible to make life easier on the margins [ocidental] of the Kherson region so that it is less affected by bombardments,” said Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the Operational Command for Southern Ukraine.
In response, Russian forces used “tactical aviation,” including Shahed drones of Iranian origin, to try to push back Ukrainian forces, he added.
The Dnieper River forms a natural line that runs along the entire front in the south of the country. Following Russia’s withdrawal from the city of Kherson across the river in 2022, Moscow forces have regularly bombed regions on the Ukrainian side of the river, aiming to prevent the advance of Kiev’s soldiers into the annexed Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
The Ukrainian military also says that 29 of 28 ‘drones’ launched against their positions were shot down, despite electrical infrastructure in the Odessa (south) region being hit, with power outages in 2,000 homes.
In the capital, hundreds of people demonstrated against corruption and called for more investment in the armed forces. The demonstration was the tenth protest in Kiev in recent weeks and when social discontent is also increasing, also related to various municipal projects.
This Saturday, demonstrators waved Ukrainian flags and repeated slogans such as “We need ‘drones’ and not stadiums,” the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.
“We organized demonstrations in more than 100 cities to protest against corruption in Ukraine and to guarantee more money that should go to the military,” defended Maria Barbash, a member of the Money for the Armed Forces organization.
“The first priority in our budget – local budgets and central budget – must be the armed forces,” he added.
The Russian military offensive on Ukrainian territory, launched on February 24 last year, plunged Europe into what is considered the worst security crisis since World War II (1939-1945).
Ukraine’s Western allies have supplied weapons to Kiev and approved successive sanctions packages against Russian interests to try to reduce Moscow’s ability to finance the war effort.
Source: DN
