Ukraine launches assault to control entrance to Dnipro River

Ukraine’s military has launched a “silent” assault on the strategic Kinburn Spit as its Kherson counteroffensive enters a new phase.

Captain Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesman for the southern command of Ukraine’s armed forces, said yesterday that the operation to liberate the small, sandy peninsula where the Dnipro River meets the Black Sea was under way, amid reports it had been recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

The outcrop is strategically important because whoever holds it can control the entrance to the Dnipro, which bisects Ukraine, and the ports of Kherson and Mykolaiv.

Vitalii Kim, Mkyolaiv’s Governor, said three settlements on the peninsula had to be liberated before his region was entirely freed from Russia.

Kremlin-installed authorities in Crimea said the peninsula was attacked by drones yesterday.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Governor of the Sevastopol administrative region, said two drones had been shot down and urged residents to “remain calm”.

Crimea’s governor said last week that Russia’s defences were being

strengthened as Kyiv’s forces continued to reclaim territory in neighbouring Kherson.

The spit was once popular with tourists, but is being used by Russian forces to conduct artillery and missile strikes on Ukrainian-held territories.

It was also used by Moscow to target tugs and barges operating in the mouth of the Dnipro River, Ukraine’s military said.

Ukraine’s southern operational command has previously described the area as the “focus of the enemy’s life force, weapons and equipment”.

Images shared on social media appear to show Ukrainian troops operating in the Dnipro, suggesting they are launching amphibious assaults.

Western military analysts said recapturing the peninsula would give Ukraine’s forces a staging post on the left bank of the Dnipro, where Russia withdrew its forces after ceding control of Kherson.

The Institute for the Study of War, a Us-based think-tank, said: “Control of the Kinburn Spit would allow Ukrainian forces to [repel] Russian strikes on the Ukrainian-controlled Black Sea coast, increase naval activity in the area, and conduct potential operations to cross to the left (east) bank in Kherson Oblast under significantly less Russian artillery fire, compared to a crossing of the Dnipro River.” — Telegraph Group Ltd