In the Kherson region, Ukrainian special forces and naval troops managed to establish themselves on the left bank of the river. According to Kiev, the Russian army was pushed back “three to eight kilometers.”
The Dnieper, which serves as a border between the occupied territories and the rest of Ukraine, is the subject of fierce fighting. “All attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct a landing operation in the Kherson direction [Sud, NDLR] have failed,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday. Ukrainian units, especially marines, “succeeded in driving the Russians out of their positions on the left bank of the river,” the Kiev command claimed on Facebook. According to him, “violent fighting” and “sabotage, raids and reconnaissance operations” made it possible to establish “several bridgeheads.”
A pleasing success after the failure of the summer counteroffensive launched at the beginning of June. General Valery Zalouzhny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, openly admitted to The Economist on November 1 that he was at a “dead end.” The advance of Kiev troops would “vary from 3 to 8 kilometers, depending on the characteristics, geography and topography of the Left Bank,” an army spokesman explained this Sunday.
“One and a half company”
Last fall, after fierce fighting, the Ukrainian army recaptured the city of Kherson and its region on the right bank of the Dnieper, forcing the Russians to retreat. The latter are said to have blown up the Kakhovka Dam in retaliation in June 2023, which led to flooding and a mechanical drop in the river level. These swamps in the middle of the river are inherently difficult to traverse. Ukrainian special forces and naval troops have so far carried out lightning operations on the river and on the opposite bank. However, they retreated each time. The permanent stationing of troops therefore represents a remarkable novelty. They would represent “one and a half companies,” according to Vladimir Saldo, leader of the occupied part of the Kherson Oblast (editor’s note) near the village of Krynky. “They have a few vehicles, but overall they remain very light. They are protected above all by their artillery, which remains on the other side of the river,” AFP quoted military historian and former naval colonel Michel Goya as saying.
“The Russians are at the top” (dry). But the Ukrainians are closing in on the border and controlling a large part of the “intermediate zone,” international risk consultant Stéphane Audrand analyzed on Especially since such a crossing would require a floating bridge or bank to transport armored vehicles and artillery. An extremely risky operation. It would also take place under the watchful eye of Russian drones and artillery. France provided “motorized floating bridges,” although the number is unknown. A massive and rapid crossing would also require a “hard” bridge. Such crossing capabilities would be necessary to move heavy equipment and logistics. If we want to advance tens of kilometers deep, we must also advance our artillery, otherwise we will be cut off from all support,” notes Michel Goya.
Should such an operation nevertheless be successful, it would allow Ukrainian troops to open a new front after Robotyne, south of Zaporizhzhia, in the center of the country. This is undoubtedly Kiev’s goal: to force the Russians to concentrate in several places in order to tire them out. The Battle of the Dnieper “maintains pressure on the Russians, who are forced to transfer part of their reserves to the Dnieper to the detriment of other sectors of the front,” notes the former French colonel, who assesses the operation as a whole as Ukrainian “quite limited, certainly symbolic,” but that it “enables the proclamation of small victories after the failure of the main offensive.” Proof that Moscow is nevertheless taking this threat seriously is the replacement of the Russian commander operating in the Dnieper zone.
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