Ukrainian troops have conducted a series of successful operations on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, the country’s military has said.
The claim on Friday comes after official acknowledgment from Russia and Ukraine earlier this week that Ukraine had established positions on the eastern side of the river, which marks the frontline for a stretch of territory in south-east Ukraine.
“The defence forces of Ukraine conducted a series of successful operations on the left bank of the Dnipro River, along the Kherson front,” the Ukraine Marine Corps said in a statement on social media.
Ukraine liberated Kherson and areas around the city on the western bank of the river a year ago, after Russia executed a humiliating withdrawal weeks after Vladimir Putin had declared the region to be part of Russia.
Ukraine had hoped to push forward and retake more territory over the summer and autumn but Kyiv’s much-trailed counteroffensive has struggled, after Russia constructed formidable minefields and other defences along the frontline.
The news of the troops on the eastern bank of the Dnipro provides some good news for Kyiv at a time when Russia is on the offensive along other parts of the front.
The Ukrainian hope is that establishing positions on the eastern side of the river could allow it to push on towards Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Pushing the Russians further back from the riverbank would also bring some respite to the communities on the other side, which have come under constant attack in recent months. Russian forces have been bombarding towns and villages on the western bank with artillery from their positions, including the city of Kherson, which is attacked on a near daily basis.
“One of the main goals of this combat work is to push the enemy as far as possible from the right bank to protect the Ukrainian civilian population, in particular Kherson, from constant Russian shelling,” Andriy Kovalyov, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s general staff, said in comments posted to a military channel on YouTube.
On Friday the Kherson regional governor said another night of artillery attacks had killed one civilian. The previous day, at least three people were killed and a dozen injured in shelling.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said another goal was to make it easier for Ukraine to target Russian military and logistics infrastructure in occupied Crimea.
“These operations are taking place as part of the strategic task of bringing Crimea within our firing range … The closer we get, the more things we can use, not only long-distance missiles and drones but also artillery,” Podolyak said in an interview in Kyiv.
Claims of the Ukrainian positions on the eastern bank have been relayed by Russian military bloggers for weeks, but Kyiv declined to comment officially until this week. Zelenskiy posted photographs of Ukrainian soldiers in speedboats on the Dnipro to his Telegram channel on Friday. He wrote: “Our warriors. Thank you for your strength, for moving forward!”
On Tuesday, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, announced for the first time that Ukrainian troops had “gained a foothold” on the eastern bank. Vladimir Saldo, the Kremlin-installed official in charge of occupied Kherson, claimed Ukrainian troops were “blocked” in Krynky, a small village on the eastern side of the river. He said the troops were facing a “fiery hell” from Russian artillery and drones.
“Russia used everything and anything to push our forces out – all kinds of weapons,” said Ivan Stupak, a Kyiv-based military analyst. He said Ukrainian authorities had previously kept quiet about the positions because the situation remained precarious.
“The fact they are now talking about it openly suggests our forces have really dug in,” he said. There are reports that three separate groups were able to link up on the eastern side of the river.
Russia is now on the offensive in some places, notably around the town of Avdiivka, close to occupied Donetsk. Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka’s military administration, said on Ukrainian television that Russian forces had brought in reinforcements and were making a push towards the town’s industrial zone.
With Russia and Ukraine struggling to make significant territorial gains, Gen Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s forces, said in a recent interview with the Economist that the conflict had reached a “stalemate”, something Zelenskiy later denied.
However, the mood in Ukraine has soured somewhat since the summer, as exhausted troops and the civilian population prepare for another winter in which Russia is expected to target critical infrastructure.
The international climate has also started to look less favourable for Kyiv, with much global attention shifted to the Middle East and increasingly loud voices in the US Republican party pushing for an end to financial and military aid to Ukraine.
Yermak made a trip to Washington earlier this week, meeting the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and senators from both parties in the hope of keeping Ukraine on the agenda.
Also this week, the newly appointed British foreign secretary, David Cameron, used his first foreign visit in the role to travel to Kyiv and reaffirm British support for Ukraine.
“We will continue to give you the moral support, the diplomatic support, the economic support but above all the military support that you need, not just this year and next year but for as long as it takes,” Cameron told Zelenskiy.
