The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, claimed on his Telegram channel that a significant part of the Russian military command had already left the city of Kherson. Ukrainian forces are about 25 kilometers (15.5 miles) north of the city, towards Mykolaiv.
Much of the Kherson region has been occupied since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As part of Kiev’s counteroffensive to try to recapture lost territory in the south, Ukrainian forces are targeting critical bridges to disrupt supply routes in and around Kherson.
The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, said on Sunday that the Russians may flee to the other side of the river “to avoid being trapped in the city of Kherson if Ukrainian strikes cut all land lines of communication connecting the right bank of the Dnipro River to the Russian rear.”
In recent days, videos have emerged on social media showing new long-range artillery strikes on the Antonivskyi Bridge and a road bridge over the dam near Nova Kakhovka, making them impassable for heavily armored vehicles. In some areas, the river is as wide as 1 kilometer (0.6 mi), making pontoon bridges impractical.
The Ukrainians have also targeted several railway lines from the Russian-held Crimean peninsula to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. On Tuesday, a series of violent explosions rocked the town of Dzankhoy on the main line to Kherson. Recent video footage showed a significant stockpile of military vehicles and ammunition at the site.
Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of occupied Melitopol, told Ukrainian television on Monday that Russian forces were still clearing debris from the site of a railway bridge near the city that was hit last Friday.
“Right now, the enemy is using Melitopolis as a logistics center for the transportation, transshipment of ammunition and heavy weapons. The enemy is transporting most of the ammunition by rail,” he added.
Fedorov, who is no longer in Melitopol, also claimed on Monday: “We are seeing the migration of [Russian] military personnel from Kherson to Melitopolis. Military personnel are taking their families out of Melitopolis.”
Fedorov says he receives information from party networks in the city.
Two railway lines from Crimea were hit in the last 10 days. Last week, local residents reported hours of explosions in the Henichesk region, a port area along the Azov Sea, and the railway line further west to Brylivka was also hit.
According to the Southern Operational Command of the Ukrainian army: “Within the last week we have destroyed more than 10 ammunition depots and clusters of military equipment. These strikes do not allow the transport of heavy equipment from these bridges.”
None of this suggests an imminent Russian withdrawal from Kherson.
Russia has installed strong, multi-layered defenses, including air cover, in the Kherson region, according to Western military analysts, even using vintage Soviet T-62 tanks as fixed artillery to provide defensive support.
They have also attempted regular counterattacks against Ukrainian units trying to push south into Kherson, effectively limiting modest gains in the flat farmland along the border with the Mykolayiv region.
But the Russians require a constant flow of ammunition and fuel to sustain their operations in the region. And bridges and railroads are easy targets.
Now that the United States has supplied them with HARMS anti-radar missiles, the Ukrainians have begun using fighter jets and helicopters in the area, as well as long-range, high-precision artillery systems. Their targeting is also aided by a burgeoning resistance movement within the occupied territories.
The Ukrainians have recognized that going toe-to-toe with Russian forces in a grueling artillery and tank battle is far less fruitful than using their newly acquired tools — and some older ones — to pound Russian rear positions and infrastructure.
Olga Voitovych, Yulia Kesaieva and Mariya Knight contributed to the report.
