Ukraine launches assault to gain strategic foothold on occupied side of Dnipro river
UKRAINE’S military has launched an assault on the strategic Kinburn Spit as its Kherson counter-offensive enters a new phase.
Captain Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesman for the southern command of Ukraine’s armed forces, yesterday said 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 most important thing is that the operation continues, and we continue our fight against the enemy,” she said.
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 Sevasadministrative 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, 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. In a recent broadcast on Ukrainian television, Captain Humeniuk said Russia’s hold on the region was “not powerful enough to withstand a large concentration of troops”.
She claimed storms around the peninsula had prevented Russian forces from gaining a foothold on the spit. “The sea helps us. The enemy cannot gain a foothold there because the Ukrainian Armed Forces inflict damage on the enemy’s points,” she added.
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.”
Meanwhile, Russia started a mobilisation drive in Crimea, fearing Ukraine could advance in the occupied region.