Ukraine claims foothold on Dnipro river bank in south

If would mean a significant advance for Kyiv in war

FE Team | Published: November 15, 2023 22:07:11

Communal workers stand sheltered in an underground passage during an air alarm in Kyiv on Tuesday — AFP

KYIV, Nov 15 (BBC): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff Andriy Yermak has said that Ukrainian forces have gained a foothold on the left or east bank of the Dnipro river.
Russia has admitted that some Ukrainian forces have set up positions in a village but claims they will soon be wiped out. If the area is held it would mean a significant advance for Ukraine. Russia retreated from the right bank of the river a year ago.
The Ukrainian army has since been trying to create and hold a bridgehead on its eastern shore. "The Armed Forces of Ukraine captured a bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro," Mr Yermak told a US think tank, using a military term for a secured position.
US-based experts said earlier that marginal advances had been made into the village of Krynky, 2km (1.25 miles) inland from the river and 30km from the city of Kherson, recaptured a year ago. Russia conceded on Wednesday that "small groups" of Ukrainian forces had set up positions in the village on the left bank.
But Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed official in charge of the Kherson region still under occupation, insisted that they had sustained heavy losses and faced a "fiery hell" and had no chance of breaking through. "Our additional forces have now been brought in. The enemy is trapped in Krynky," he claimed.
His admission that Ukrainian forces had gained a foothold came two days after Russian state media bizarrely published and then swiftly retracted news of a retreat from positions on the left bank.
Repeated attempts to cross the river made during the spring and summer had been met with little success. Ukrainian forces conducted several raids across the Dnipro in small boats. However, Kyiv lacks air superiority, which made the task more difficult.
Securing a bridgehead means that Ukrainian forces may be able to begin transferring armoured vehicles and air defence systems across the river. This would put them one step closer to breaking through to Crimea, the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.