After the start of a counter-offensive in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson, according to information from Kyiv, there is now “heavy fighting” in the area. There were “strong explosions all day and all night,” said the office of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The armed forces had started “offensives in different directions”. Ammunition depots and all major bridges over the Dnipro River, which the Russian troops used for their supplies, had been destroyed.

The spokeswoman for the army’s southern command, Nataliya Humenyuk, spoke of “position battles” in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. But it is still too early to talk about recaptured places. “Fighting is going on right now, and it requires information silence,” Humenyuk said.

Zelensky urged the Russian soldiers to retreat. “It’s time for the Russian military to leave,” he said in his recent video address – “go home,” Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were chasing the Russian army to the border. Ukraine is taking back what is theirs.

However, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said that Ukraine’s offensives in the south were unsuccessful. The Ukrainian soldiers had suffered significant losses in their advances.

Meanwhile, the British Ministry of Defense said the “scope of the Ukrainian advance” could not be confirmed. However, the Ukrainian army has “increased artillery fire on front sections throughout southern Ukraine” in order to interrupt Russian supply lines with “long-range precision strikes”.

The Kherson region, with its capital of the same name on the banks of the Dnipro River, borders the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia. It was the first major city in Ukraine to be taken by the Russian army shortly after the start of the Russian invasion. The region is central to the country’s agriculture and also strategically crucial due to its proximity to Crimea.

In the Russian-occupied parts of Kherson and the neighbouring Zaporizhia region, the Kremlin is pursuing a policy of Russification with a view to possible annexation. Moscow has introduced the ruble as its currency there and is encouraging residents to obtain Russian passports.

Image by Wikimedia (President of Ukraine)/Attribution 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)