Is the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive beginning in the city of Cherson? According to military experts, rocket attacks on Russian positions and reports from the Ukrainian army are probably the first signs of this. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine launched offensive actions in many directions in the south of Ukraine,” reported Nataliya Humenyuk, head of the joint press center of the Security and Defense Forces “South”. The relevant military command calls on the civilian population to avoid areas where fighting threatened to leave.
A group within the Ukrainian armed forces called “Kakhovka” said on Facebook that it had chased soldiers of the 109th regiment of the armed forces of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” from their position. Allegedly, Russian paratroopers also retreated in the process.
In addition, she posted a video of an alleged Russian soldier who, under cover, reported that Ukrainian forces had broken through the Russian defense line with artillery fire. This information cannot be independently confirmed, but the Ukrainian newspaper “Ukrainiska Pravda” writes that several of its sources have confirmed the information.
The group previously posted on Facebook that all major bridges in Kherson, including the Antonivka Bridge and more recently the Novaya Kakhovka Bridge, had been destroyed. Thus, the Russian armed forces are now said to be cut off from their supply camps.
Ukrainian media also reported that Ukrainian forces attacked the Berislav machine-building plant in the Kherson region, where Russian troops stationed their equipment, ammunition and manpower. It should now be on fire.
Also, the ex-military leader of the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic”, Igor Girkin – also known by the pseudonym Igor Strelkov – tweeted that Ukrainian forces not only hit targets behind the front line in Russian-held Kherson with artillery, but also the front and infantry directly would have shot at. This information cannot be independently confirmed.
Russian soldier and military blogger Anatoly Driomov wrote on his Telegram channel on Monday afternoon that the Russian army had suffered “very heavy casualties among ours.” “There is a risk of losing Cherson,” writes Drjomov. Ukraine would “fire with everything it has”.
A visa ban would target civilians directly. This reinforced the Kremlin’s misrepresentation that the sanctions are not really about Ukraine, but a Western plot to bring Russia and its people to their knees.
Against this background, the fact that there are no entry restrictions for the citizens of the aggressor state, that they can continue to vacation with us, shop or circumvent sanctions, is morally unacceptable
