Announcing the start of Kyiv’s offensive in the southern Kherson region, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Russian soldiers to flee or surrender if they want to survive.
The long-awaited start of this offensive comes after weeks of gradual Ukrainian and Russian troop build-ups around the city of Kherson, where Ukraine had a relative advantage over Russian troops on August 27, according to EU analysts. While there has been a lot of enthusiasm in the Ukrainian media, with the the former head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, army general Nikolai Malomuzh, describing the offensive as a turning point in the war, western observers have been more reserved in their judgement.
In a Pentagon briefing on August 29, officials described the offensive as an “increased amount of artillery” fire, pointing out that there had been “some offensive action in that area for the past couple weeks”. This assessment was confirmed by the British Ministry of Defence in its update on August 30, noting that it was “not yet possible to confirm the extent of Ukrainian advances”.
