Ukrainian forces launched 24 US HIMARS missiles against the city of Kherson on Tuesday night, 21 of which were shot down, according to the emergency services of the regional capital, controlled by Russia since the start of the war.
“Total, [os ucranianos] launched 24 HIMARS rockets. Twenty-one were shot down by air defense units and three rockets veered off course and fell into the water next to the Antonivka bridge,” a spokesman for the emergency services was quoted as saying by the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
The city of Kherson, capital of the homonymous region, is located on the right bank of the Dnieper, a river that separates it from the rest of the territory of that administrative unit, annexed by Russia on September 30, along with the Zaporizhia region. and the so-called Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
In recent weeks, Ukrainian troops have made significant progress in the north and northeast of the Kherson region, for which the Russian-installed regional administration has ordered the evacuation of the civilian population, first from the right bank of the Dnieper and, on Monday, from a 15-kilometer strip on the opposite bank.
“This decision will make it possible to create a staggered defense, which will allow us to repel attacks by Ukrainian armed groups and defend our civilian population,” explained Moscow-appointed interim governor Vladimir Saldo.
As part of the withdrawals from Kherson, some 80,000 people were moved to the left bank of the Dnieper.
According to the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian forces may recapture the city of Kherson before the end of the year.
At the same time, official Ukrainian sources have recently acknowledged that Russia is significantly reinforcing its troops in the region, which is of great strategic importance due to its proximity to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.7 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from United Nations (UN), which described this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia. political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,430 civilian deaths and 9,865 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
