When asked how Kyiv intends to recapture the south of the country, experts refer to the events surrounding Snake Island in June as a comparison. Russia had withdrawn from the strategically important island after the position there had become untenable.
George Barros, a staff member at the Institute for the Study of War think tank, stresses that the Ukrainians did not take the island in battle. Rather, Kyiv had stationed artillery, multiple rocket launchers and anti-aircraft systems on the coast in such a way that they threatened Russian supply routes to the island.
Similarly, the Ukrainians now tried to make the position of the Russian troops on the western side of the Dnipro in the Kherson region untenable by attacking and destroying supply routes such as bridges and supply depots.
The Ukrainian tactics are already having an impact. As a result, Russian losses in artillery systems would no longer be replaced as quickly, a Ukrainian military officer told the Wall Street Journal; a sign of the Russians’ problems getting heavy equipment across the Dnipro River.
Currently this is only possible with ferries or over improvised bridges. In addition, the intensity of Russian artillery fire has roughly halved compared to July.
The report that the Antonivka Bridge, which connects the city of Cherson with the east bank of the Dnipro, is said to have completely collapsed after heavy shelling, fits in with this development. That has not yet been confirmed.
Also, the Russian troops in Cherson still do not seem to be completely cut off from supplies. According to statements by the Ukrainian military, the Russians can still use their artillery in Kherson more often than the Ukrainians.
