Ukrainian armoured infantry vehicles have crossed the Dnipro River to fight Russian troops on its east bank, according to military sources.
Kyiv forces have launched a number of raids across the vast river in the east of Ukraine.
A number of clashes have happened on islands in the river.
The Institute for The Study of War on Wednesday cited several Russian milbloggers as reporting river crossings amid claims that more than 300 Ukrainian soldiers are now operating on the east bank which has been held by Vladimir Putin’s army since it retreated from the city of Kherson in the south of the country.
The Washington-based think tank said: “Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces transferred a limited number of armoured vehicles to the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast (province) and are continuing larger-than-usual ground operations on the east bank with a light infantry grouping of roughly battalion size.
“Russian milbloggers amplified a picture on November 6 purporting to show a Ukrainian tracked amphibious transport (PTS) vehicle carrying an infantry fighting vehicle onto the east bank near Krynky (30km northeast of Kherson City and 2km from the Dnipro River).
“Other milbloggers claimed on November 7 that a Ukrainian amphibious infantry fighting vehicle crossed the Dnipro River on its own near Krynky and amplified separate footage on November 7 purporting to show a destroyed Western amphibious armoured personnel carrier in an unspecified location on the east bank."
The ISW added: “Select Russian milbloggers claimed that either one or two Ukrainian PTS vehicles crossed the Dnipro near Krynky, while other milbloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces transferred several unspecified armoured vehicles to the area.
“Russian milbloggers claimed that more than 300 Ukrainian personnel (about a battalion’s worth) are operating on the east bank in the Krynky area and continue to claim that Ukrainian forces maintain positions in central Krynky and nearby areas.”
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday its troops had repelled Russian assaults in widely separated sectors of the war and braced for a fresh attempt to capture the key frontline eastern town of Avdiivka.
Russia is engaged in a slow-moving campaign in eastern areas of the 1,000-km (600-mile) front line after failing in its bid to march on Kyiv in the conflict’s early days. Ukraine has registered only limited progress in a counteroffensive launched in the east and south in June.
Ukraine’s General Staff, in its Tuesday evening report, said its forces had beaten back 15 attacks near Kupiansk in the northeast and 18 attacks near Maryinka further south, where battles have raged for months.
Nine attacks were reportedly repelled in and near Avdiivka, where Moscow launched the latest of several drives in mid-October. These claims could not be independently verified.
Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration, said several days of rain had for the moment ruled out any new Russian advance - what he described as the “third wave”.
“We’ve had nearly a week of heavy rain,” he told the public broadcaster Suspilne. “The terrain is too difficult and equipment cannot move.”
Mr Barabash said Russian troops had been targeting the town’s vast coking plant with artillery for the past week.
The last 16 workers keeping the plant operating had finally been evacuated, he said and only two doctors and four nurses remained in what was a town of 32,000 before Russia’s February 2022 invasion.
“These are our city’s angels,” he told the television.
Avdiivka has become a hallmark of Ukrainian resistance - and is seen as a gateway if Ukraine is to retake main areas in the east, including the town of Donetsk, 20 km away.
Occupied briefly when Russian-backed separatists seized large areas of eastern Ukraine in 2014, the town was retaken by Ukrainian forces who subsequently erected substantial fortifications around it.
Russian accounts of the fighting said Moscow’s troops had launched strikes on Ukrainian units and equipment in villages near the eastern town of Bakhmut, seized by Russian forces last May.
Meanwhile, NATO allies condemned a decision by Russia on Tuesday to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, a key post-Cold War agreement, and said they would suspend its operation in response.
Russia formally withdrew from the security treaty, which limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the United States for undermining post-Cold War security with the enlargement of the NATO military alliance.
“Allies condemn Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), and its war of aggression against Ukraine which is contrary to the Treaty’s objectives,” NATO said in a statement.
The Russian move was its latest action that systematically undermined Euro-Atlantic security, it said.
“Therefore, as a consequence, Allied States Parties intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary, in accordance with their rights under international law. This is a decision fully supported by all NATO Allies.”
The United States said it would suspend treaty obligations effective from December 7.
Russia’s war against Ukraine and its withdrawal from the treaty “fundamentally altered” circumstances related to it and transformed participants’ obligations, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
Russia suspended participation in the treaty in 2007 and halted active participation in 2015.
Mr Sullivan said that despite Moscow’s continued disregard for arms control, the United States and its allies will remain committed to effective conventional arms control.
Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said early on Wednesday that shifting responsibility for the destruction of international security architecture was a “favourite practice” of Washington.
“With the decision to withdraw, Russia sends a clear signal - attempts to build military security in Europe without taking into account our concerns are doomed to failure,” Mr Antonov said on the embassy’s Telegram channel.
