Russian forces are undergoing a “major diversion” of troops in three regions in southern Ukraine in what appears to be a change of tactics by Moscow, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday.
Russian forces have seized Ukraine’s second largest power plant, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview published on YouTube. Russianbacked forces had earlier announced the capture of the Sovietera Vuhlehirsk coalfired power plant in eastern Ukraine.
Major Kherson Bridge badly damaged by bombing in Ukraine
“They gained a small tactical advantage, they took Vuhlehirsk,” Arestovych said.
The presidential adviser said Russia appears to be shifting from an offensive to a defensive strategy, using tactical strikes to weaken Ukraine’s offensive potential in the crucial eastern industrial region of Donetsk.
“(That) would put us in a position where we wouldn’t be able to liberate our entire territory and call for negotiations,” he said.
Ukraine has made it clear that it intends to retake the southern city of Kherson, which fell to Russia in the early days of the war.