Ukrainian forces are reportedly being repulsed as they seek a bridgehead on the east bank of the Dnipro. This should cause jubilation in Russia.
Munich/Moscow/Kherson – By definition, a bridgehead is a weir system that is built to secure a river bridge. The Ukrainian armed forces want to fortify such a bridgehead in their counter-offensive in the southern region of Cherson across the Dnipro.
But so far they don’t seem to be able to do that. Despite apparently heavy fighting on the southern lower reaches of the huge river that divides Ukraine into two parts. According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the head of the Russian occupation command in the Kherson Oblast, Vladimir Saldo, claimed that soldiers of the Russian Forces Group “Dnieper” near the Antonivsky Bridge pushed their opponents from areas on the east bank.
Ukraine counteroffensive: Russian army is said to be pushing Ukrainians back behind Dnipro
Accordingly, previously landed special forces from Ukraine were allegedly pushed back into the Ukrainian-controlled part of the region. According to ISW, Russian officials are celebrating this claim, which cannot currently be independently verified. Not like so many statements from both sides in the Ukraine war.
Specifically, Russian troops are said to have crushed small Ukrainian landings on the eastern bank on Saturday (July 1), which Moscow celebrated “as if they had won a great victory,” writes the ISW. According to Saldo, the Ukrainian armed forces therefore allegedly no longer have any “bridgeheads” on the east bank.
Ukraine War: Heavy fighting in Kherson region near Antonivsky Bridge
However, as of Sunday (July 2), Kiev has not confirmed such a withdrawal. Instead, heavy fighting was again reported in this sector of the front between the Ukrainian army and the Russian armed forces. “Intense combat operations are currently taking place, the main focus is on battery defence,” said Natalia Humenyuk, press director of the defense forces in southern Ukraine. She portrayed the course of the fighting there differently.
At the end of June, the Russian state news agency mug Photos published purporting to show artillery batteries in the Kherson region allegedly firing on advancing Ukrainian forces on the Dnipro. Appropriate batteries are usually located in the rear of the front. Humenyuk’s statement does not say whether they will be attacked by Ukrainian infantry or by drones or Himar medium-range missiles.
Counteroffensive: Ukraine and Russia fight each other at Antonivsky Bridge
According to ISW, meanwhile, military bloggers close to the Kremlin claimed that Russian forces entered the area around the settlement of Dachi near the Antonivsky Bridge “after firing an Iskander ballistic missile at the bridge on June 30.” And according to a Russian blogger based in Crimea, Russian units attacked Ukrainian special forces in the vicinity of the bridge with T-72 tanks. The peninsula, annexed in violation of international law in 2014, is located on the Black Sea, south of the Cherson region, where even farmers are now working as deminers.
For days, videos of drone footage have been circulating on Twitter, which are supposed to show Ukrainian soldiers crossing the Dnipro on speedboats opposite the city of Cherson (population around 290,000). A video showing an American Humvee transporting such a speedboat to the front also made the rounds under the hashtag #Kherson. It is believed that the Russian army blew up the Antonivsky Bridge in November 2022 while retreating behind the Dnipro after it had been rendered impassable by Ukrainian Himar rockets in the previous months.
Antonivski Bridge: Probably blown up by the Russian army in November 2022
Nevertheless, this area of the Dnipro is suitable for a bridgehead using a pontoon bridge because of the flat bank and the directly connected infrastructure with the European route E97, which leads to the Crimea. Loud Kyiv Post the 73rd Marine Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is deployed in this area, which is similar to the US Marines in its boat and amphibious assaults. Said brigade has long been operating “behind Russian lines in the Dnipro Delta,” the report said. Apparently, she encountered fierce resistance from the Russians there. (pm)
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