Russia 'redeploys' troops to south Ukraine, faces Kherson counter-attack

 

The Russian redeployment to the south appeared to be a switch to strategic defence from offence, a Ukrainian official says, with troops sent to Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory in the Kherson region, which fell to Russian forces early after their offensive began on February 24. (AFP)

Russian forces have taken over Ukraine's second-biggest power plant and are conducting a "massive redeployment" of troops to three southern regions, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said, as Kiev's soldiers look to recapture Kherson.

Russian-backed forces said on Wednesday they had captured the Soviet-era coal-fired Vuhlehirsk power plant intact, in what was Moscow's first significant gain in more than three weeks.

Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, confirmed the capture of the plant in the eastern Donetsk region, but said it was only a "tiny tactical advantage" for Russia.

The Russian redeployment to the south appeared to be a switch to strategic defence from offence, he added, with troops sent to Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

Ukrainian forces in the south said they had killed 66 enemy troops and destroyed three tanks and two arms dumps in the past 24 hours. Russian forces attacked the city of Mykolaiv with multiple rocket launchers, they added.

The battlefield reports could not be independently verified. 

Ukraine's counter-offensive

Ukraine has made clear it intends to take back the southern city of Kherson, which fell to Russia in the early days of its offensive. Ukraine shelled the important Antonivskiy bridge straddling the Dnipro river in Kherson, closing it to traffic.

Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Twitter the strikes on bridges over the Dnipro created an "impossible dilemma" for Russia: "retreat or be annihilated by the Ukrainian army".

Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-installed regional administration in Kherson, confirmed the bridge had been hit overnight and traffic had been halted. But he sought to downplay the damage.

Russian officials had earlier said they would turn instead to pontoon bridges and ferries to get forces across the river.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine would rebuild the Antonivskyi bridge over the Dnipro and other crossings in the region.

"We are doing everything to ensure that the occupying forces do not have any logistical opportunities in our country," he said in a Wednesday evening address.

Ukraine's counter-offensive, supported by Western-supplied long-range artillery, has seen its forces push closer to Kherson city, which had a population of under 300,000 people before the conflict erupted on February 24.

Meanwhile, the leader of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine called on Moscow to conquer key cities across the country.

"Today the time has come to liberate Russian cities, founded by Russians: Kiev, Chernigiv, Poltava, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Lutsk," Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.

Russia sought to capture the capital Kiev in the early days of its offensive but later retreated, focusing its efforts on Ukraine's east Donbass region.

In the battered Donetsk region — part of the Donbass — a house was hit in an intense artillery exchange around the ravaged frontline city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine's emergency services said that Russian artillery had hit a hotel in Bakhmut, leaving two people dead and five injured.

Source: TRTWorld and agencies 

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(With input from news agency language)

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