Ukraine Appears To Have Launched Kherson Counteroffensive

The Ukrainian military is being uncharacteristically circumspect about location and other details - which itself may be telling. 

But reports from multiple sources indicate an offensive of some scale has been initiated. To what degree this is "the" counteroffensive towards Kherson which has been bruited about for months remains to be seen as more information emerges. JL 

Leonie Chao-Fong and colleagues report in The Guardian:

Ukraine has started a long-awaited counter-offensive in the country’s south, its southern military command has announced, amid reports that Ukrainian troops were able to break through Russian lines in the Kherson region. (They) declined to provide more details about the new offensive but said Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russia’s southern logistical routes had “unquestionably weakened the enemy”. More than 10 Russian ammunition dumps had been hit over the last week.

Ukraine has started a long-awaited counter-offensive in the country’s south, its southern military command has announced, amid reports that Ukrainian troops were able to break through Russian lines in the Kherson region.

Ukraine’s southern command spokesperson, Natalia Humeniuk, was cited by Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne as saying:Today we started offensive actions in various directions, including in the Kherson region.

She declined to provide more details about the new offensive but said Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russia’s southern logistical routes had “unquestionably weakened the enemy”.

More than 10 Russian ammunition dumps had been hit over the last week, Humeniuk added.

Humeniuk’s comments came after reports from Ukrainian newspapers that units of Ukraine’s defence forces had last night launched a counteroffensive on the right bank of the Dnipro river in Kherson Oblast.

Soldiers deployed on the front lines have reportedly said they managed to break through the first line of Russian defence in the region.