Ukrainian counteroffensive begins to recapture territories in Kherson
Ukrainian forces have retaken settlements on the line of contact on the southern front, but sources say their advance has slowed in the face of stiff Russian defences
Ukraine’s armed forces claimed to have launched a long-awaited ground operation to take back territories in Kherson oblast in the 27th week of the war, striking in eight directions simutaneously.
“We have launched offensive operations in many directions… we can confirm that we have broken through the first line of defence,” said spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command Natalia Gumenyuk on August 29.
The offensive comes after weeks of pummelling Russian supply lines, command posts, equipment and ammunition warehouses and air bases with high-precision rocket artillery and drones to weaken resupply capabilities to the front lines. Russian forces had responded by creating pontoon crossings on the Dnipro river.
Serhiy Khlan, a former advisor to Kherson’s governor, said Ukrainian forces had destroyed a Russian pontoon ferry crossing near the village of Lvove. Ukrainian and Russian sources also showed Ukraine had struck a Russian pontoon crossing made of barges next to the crippled Antonivsky bridge.
“The effects of destroying ferries will likely be more ephemeral than those of putting bridges out of commission, so attacking them makes sense in conjunction with active ground operations,” said the Institute for the Study of War.
Russian military blogger Grey Zone (276,000 followers) reported that Ukrainian forces had advanced six kilometres to take Sukhyi Stavok, north of Kherson city.
An unnamed military source told CNN that Ukrainian forces had taken settlements including Pravdyne, Novodmytrivka and Tomyna Balka, about 23km southwest of Kherson city, suggesting they were advancing along a salient south of Kherson city.
Ukrainian officials from Kherson oblast were urging residents to temporarily evacuate Kherson city “so that our armed forces can quickly liberate it from the enemy.”
A local resident told Al Jazeera that the counteroffensive had encountered initial success but was becoming bogged down.
“The villages along the front line – these the Ukrainians broke easily. In the second line of defence there was blood spilled. I heard 1,000 Ukrainians and 1,500 Russians [were killed],” said Pantelis Boubouras, Greece’s honorary consul in Kherson, who runs a construction business in Odesa.
“The second line isn’t falling easily. There are 25,000-30,000 soldiers, they’ve been there five months, and and very well equipped and dug in,” Boubouras told Al Jazeera.
The Russian defence ministry denied that there was any loss of territory, saying Ukraine had lost 1,200 soldiers in an attempt to recapture Kryvyi Rih in Kherson oblast.
"Effective actions by the Russian group of troops destroyed 48 tanks, 46 infantry fighting vehicles, 37 other armored fighting vehicles, eight pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and more than 1,200 Ukrainian servicemen in a day," spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said.
But Gumenyuk said Russian forces had not launched a defensive counterattack.
“Having dug in and feeling more or less protected among the reinforced concrete structures, [the enemy] does not want to climb into attack” she said.
It was unclear how well the offensive was progressing on the northern edge of the line of contact in Kherson oblast. Grey Zone reported that Ukrainian forces had crossed the Inhulets river on boats and launched unsuccessful offensives on a cluster of settlements near Vysokopillia.
At the same time, geolocated footage showed that Ukrainian forces had recaptured Arkhanhelske, a settlement near Vysokopillia along the line of contact.
Deeper in Kherson oblast, Ukrainian forces struck a Russian concentration of ammunition and equipment in a factory at Beryslav, setting it aflame, a local official told Ukrainian Pravda.
Ukraine’s defence ministry made no mention of an offensive in Kherson in its regular operational update on the evening of August 29 or the morning of August 30.
However, Without offering specifics, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on August 29, “The occupiers should know, we will oust them to the border… which has not changed,” a reference to Ukraine’s pre-2014 territory that included Crimea and the Donbas. “If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee.”
The “Kakhovka” grouping of Ukrainian troops said on the morning of August 29 that the situation was ripe for an offensive, since Ukrainian rocket artillery had destroyed all heavy bridges across the Dnipro river. “Only the pedestrian crossings are left. The Russian army turned out to be cut off from the supply of arms and personnel from the territory of Crimea. This is a brilliant chance for Ukraine to regain its territories.”
Ukraine has been receiving massive military aid from NATO members since Russian invaded it on February 24. On the six-month anniversary of the invasion, August 24, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg underlined the alliance’s commitment.
“You can count on NATO’s support for as long as it takes… Ukraine must prevail. Ukraine will prevail,” said Stoltenberg.
On the same day, the administration of US president Joe Biden gave Ukraine its biggest single payout of military aid worth $2.98bn. Biden said the package “will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars.”
Throughout the 27th week Ukrainian forces stepped up their attacks on Russian supply lines.
Ukraine’s southern command sid on August 25 its forces had struck Nova Kakhovsky bridge, destroying 12 Russian tanks and ammunition. Ukrainian air strikes destroyed air defence units and an ammunition depot along with seven rocket launchers in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka, an area Ukrainian troops are now trying to capture in Kherson oblast. Ukrainian officials reported that a total of four Russian warehouses were destroyed.
These Ukrainian strikes have had an effect on Russian strategy and strength. Business Insider quoted a secret NATO report saying Russian forces relocated six Sukhoi-35S and four MiG-31BM aircraft from Belbek airfield in Crimea to mainland Russia, ostensibly to protect them from Ukrainian counterattacks.
Russia has also had problems staffing its invasion of Ukraine, having suffered losses of over 47,000 personnel, according to the Ukrainian defence ministry.
Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Vadym Skibitsky said Russia is preparing to mobilise 90,000 troops in the country. These are volunteers, reservists, and soldiers recruited as part of Russia’s summer drive to raise a battalion in each of its regions. “Will the mobilization of more people in the Russian Federation help?” asks Skibitsky. “Probably not after all. Because the morale of military personnel, as they conduct combat operations, decreases.”
Timeline: Week 27 of Russia’s war in Ukraine
August 24 – 30
August 24
Russian defence minister Sergey Shoigu tells defence ministers at the Shanghai Co-operation Group that Russia will slow the pace of its Ukraine offensive in order to safeguard civilian lives. The Institute for the Study of War suggests this may be to “explain and excuse the negligible gains Russian forces have made in Ukraine in the last six weeks.” The ISW points out that since the fall of Lysychansk and the operational pause that followed it on July 16, Russian forces have gained 450 square kilometres, but have lost 45,000 square kilometres to Ukrainian counterattacks overall since their furthest point of advance on March 21.
Russian forces perform ground assaults in Donetsk oblast and in northwest Kherson oblast, without confirmed gains.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russia is trying to recruit fighters among servicemen of the strategic missile forces, with a return rate of about 1%. It has also reportedly damaged the combat effectiveness of its marine corps by redrafting its men to rifle brigades.
Eight Russian cruise missiles slam into a train station in the village of Chaplyne in Dipnopetrovsk, killing 25 people on Ukraine’s independence day. Both the US and EU call it an atrocity that will be investigated. Ukraine says Russia marked its independence day with the shelling of 58 settlements.
The polling group Rating finds that 93% of Ukrainians believe the country will “repel the Russian attack”, up from 64% a few days before the Russian invasion on February 24. The poll found an increase in the number of Ukrainians who identify Ukrainian over Russian as their native language, and greatly increased optimism compared to a year ago about the country’s prospects in 10 years.
In an independence day message, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says, “During these six month [of war], we changed history, changed the world, and changed ourselves… The Ukrainian people and their courage inspired the whole world. They gave humanity a new hope that justice has not completely left our cynical world.”
“You can count on NATO’s support for as long as it takes… Ukraine must prevail. Ukraine will prevail,” says NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg on Ukraine’s independence anniversary.
The US gives Ukraine its biggest single payout of military aid worth $2.98bn. Joe Biden says the package “will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems, and radars.”
August 25
Russian forces perform ground attacks in Donetsk oblast, consolidating their control of Pisky. They also unsuccessfully attempt an assault on Petrivka, 15km northwest of Kharkiv city.
In the south, Ukrainian forces repel a Russian advance on Tavriiske, 38km northwest of Kherson city.
Ukraine’s southern command says its forces strike Nova Kakhovsky bridge, destroying 12 Russian tanks and ammunition. Ukrainian air strikes destroy air defence units and an ammunition depot along with seven rocket launchers in Russian-occupied Nova Kakhovka in Kherson oblast. Ukrainian officials report that a total of four Russian warehouses were destroyed.
Ukrainian forces continue to strike the Antonivsky bridge to prevent Russian crews from repairing it.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says most residents of occupied Mariupol will refuse to take part in a referendum to determine the city’s future, making it unlikely that a referendum there will happen soon. Apparently only 5-7% of respondents say they will vote. Although occupied since its last defenders capitulated on May 23, Mariupol still has a strong resistance movement. On August 24, Ukraine’s independence day, local activists took down the tricolour Russian flag and hoisted the Ukrainian flag in the city.
In the occupied village of Pryazovskoe near Melitopol, Ukrainian partisans destroy the local Russian administrative headquarters that issued passports and was preparing for a referendum in the Zaporizhzhia region. A day earlier, partisans blew up the car of the Russian-appointed administrator of the village of Mykhailivka, also in the area of Melitopol, killing him.
The Telegraph reports that Russian forces occupying the Zaportizhzhia nuclear power plant are torturing Ukrainian workers to prevent them from disclosing safety shortcomings to IAEA inspectors, and parking military vehicles in turbine halls to prevent access. Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation later corroborates the claims of torture.
Ukrainian Forbes Magazine calculates that during the war, Russia has lost more than 12,000 pieces of equipment worth $16.6bn.
Russian president Vladimir Putin decrees an increase of 137,000 service personnel in the armed forces starting on January 1, to bring end strength to 1,150,000.
August 26
ISW says Russian forces make no assessed or claimed territorial advances for the first time since August 18. Russian forces make ground assaults in the direction of Bakhmut and Izyum in Donetsk, without gains. There were no Russian ground assaults on the southern front, in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts.
Business Insider quotes a secret NATO report saying that Russian forces relocated six Sukhoi-35S and four MiG-31BM aircraft from Belbek airfield in Crimea to mainland Russia, ostensibly to protect them from Ukrainian counterattacks. “Russia has dispersed 10x fighter aircraft from Crimea to other airfields in mainland Russia to likely prevent further losses from Ukrainian attacks,” the report apparently said.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russian occupation authorities in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are ready to declare referenda on the future of those regions –a step towards annexation. “Today, we can confidently say that appropriate election headquarters, operational headquarters, voter lists have been compiled, and election commissions have been created,” says Vadym Skibitsky. “That is, all the processes related to the preparation for the ‘referendum’ are almost completed."
Deputy head of Russia’s Security Council Dimitry Medvedev says Russian deliveries of contracted gas to Europe are contingent on Europe making timely payments, delivering serviced compressor turbines for pipelines and launching Nordstream 2.
Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko says his country’s Sukhoi aircraft have been reconfigured to carry nuclear weapons, in accordance with a request he made to Vladimir Putin in June.
Russian Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev tells French television channel LCI that forswearing NATO membership is no longer enough for Ukraine to make peace with Russia, which demands security guarantees. “Refusal to participate in the North Atlantic Alliance is now a necessary, but not sufficient condition for achieving peace. It is necessary to work out those very guarantees. As soon as the guarantees are worked out, put into an agreement, sealed by all parties, this will already be a sufficient condition for to stop the operation, of course, when its goals are achieved," Medvedev said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says a million tonnes of grain have been exported since an agreement with Russia to allow safe passage to merchant shipping from Ukrainian ports.
August 27
Russian forces launch grounds assaults in Donetsk oblast near Siversk, Bakhmut and Donetsk city, as well as a limited ground attack north of Kharkiv city and a limited offensive in Kherson oblast, making no recorded gains.
Ukraine’s southern command says a Russian 10-man sabotage unit attempted assault operations, suggesting degraded offensive capability. ISW: “A 10-person group amounts to a squad, which is too small to act effectively as a maneuver unit. If the Southern Operational Command correctly reported the size and mission of this unit, it would indicate that Russian ground forces in Ukraine have degraded to the point that they are attempting to conduct offensive operations and echelons too low to make meaningful gains.”
Russia’s mission to the UN says it has given the Security Council evidence of Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on August 25 and 27, claiming that Ukraine targeted nuclear fuel and hard radioactive waste. Russia says Ukrainian forces have attacked the facility “several times in recent days” with drones, artillery and rocket artillery.
Vladimir Putin decrees that Russia will pay Donbas evacuees a monthly stipend or one-off payment.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says the Kremlin is increasingly forced to turn to central Russian regions to recruit soldiers, as the Caucasus and other disadvantaged regions dry up. In the Moscow region, recruits are offered monthly salaries of 30,000-45,000 rubles during training, and 240,000 rubles during combat, if they sign contracts for 3-12 months of service. Most are being trained for the tank corps, Ukraine says.
Urkaine’s military intelligence says Russia’s 1,000-strong military garrison in Kazakhstan is resisting pressure to redeploy to Ukraine. Moscow intervened to quell a rebellion against the Kazakh government in January. Its men are stationed at military and energy facilities, and the Baikonur Cosmodrome.
Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russian deputy defence minister Dmytro Bulgakov issues a gag order on information about the destruction of ammunition depots being carried out by Ukrainian forces in the Crimea.
Sergey Lavrov says the West has divided the world along racist lines, in keeping with his previous rhetoric about establishing a fairer international order. His statement also comes on the heels of a charm offensive to Africa. "We categorically reject the neocolonial `rules-based order’ being imposed by the US-led West," Russia’s top diplomat told the fifth annual Young Diplomats Forum. "This order provides for a racist division of the world into a privileged group of countries who a priori have the right of any action and the rest of the world, obliged to follow the tracks of this `golden billion’ and service their interests."
Britain says it is supplying Ukraine with six minehunter underwater drones, to help the country clear its coasts.
August 28
Russian forces attempt ground assaults on Ukrainian positions south of Izium in Donetsk oblast, but in small numbers. They also attempt ground assaults towards Bakhmut and west of Donetsk city. None succeed in taking territory.
There were no Russian ground offensives in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, but Ukrainian forces continued to target ammunition warehouses and concentrations of equipment, striking targets in Kherson city, Lyubymivka and Vysokopillya. They also struck the command post of the 35th Combined Arms Army in Nova Kakhovka.
Military intelligence spokesman Vadym Skibitsky says Russia is preparing to mobilise 90,000 troops in Ukraine. These are volunteers, reservists, and soldiers recruited as part of Russia’s summer drive to raise a battalion in each of its regions. “Will the mobilization of more people in the Russian Federation help?” asks Skibitsky. “Probably not after all. Because the morale of military personnel, as they conduct combat operations, decreases, firstly. Secondly, there are fewer and fewer willing to enter the ranks of the Soviet Union on a voluntary basis.”
August 29
Ukraine’s armed forces claimed to have launched a long-awaited ground operation to take back territories in Kherson oblast on August 29, striking in eight directions simutaneously. “We have launched offensive operations in many directions… we can confirm that we have broken through the first line of defence,” said spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command Natalia Gumenyuk.
An unconfirmed source told CNN that Ukrainian forces had taken settlements including Pravdyne, Novodmytrivka and Tomyna Balka, about 23km west of Kherson city, suggesting they were advancing along a salient south of Kherson city.
Russian military blogger Grey Zone (276,000 followers) was reporting that Ukrainian forces had also advanced 6km to take Sukhyi Stavok, north of Kherson city.
Ukrainian officials from Kherson oblast were urging residents to temporarily evacuate Kherson city “so that our armed forces can quickly liberate it from the enemy.”
It was unclear how well the offensive was progressing on the northern edge of the line of contact in Kherson oblast. Grey Zone reported that Ukrainian forces had crossed the Inhulets river on boats and launched unsuccessful offensives on a cluster of settlements near Vysokopillia. At the same time, Ukrainian sources said the 109th Regiment of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, which is stationed in northwestern Kherson oblast, along with Russian paratroopers had abandoned their defensive positions.
Ukrainian forces had struck a Russian concentration of ammunition and equipment in a factory at Beryslav in Kherson oblast, setting it aflame, a local official told Ukrainian Pravda.
The Russian defence ministry announced that Ukraine had lost 1,200 soldiers in an attempt to recapture Kryvyi Rih in Kherson oblast. "Effective actions by the Russian group of troops destroyed 48 tanks, 46 infantry fighting vehicles, 37 other armored fighting vehicles, eight pickup trucks with heavy machine guns and more than 1,200 Ukrainian servicemen in a day," sopkesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said.
But Gumenyuk said Russian forces had not launched a defensive counterattack.
“Having dug in and feeling more or less protected among the reinforced concrete structures, [the enemy] does not want to climb into attack” she said.
Ukraine’s defence ministry made no mention of an offensive in Kherson in its regular operational update on the evening of August 29 or the morning of August 30.
However, the “Kakhovka” grouping of Ukrainian troops said on the morning of August 29 that the situation was ripe for an offensive, since Ukrainian rocket artillery had destroyed all heavy bridges across the Dnipro river. “Only the pedestrian crossings are left. The Russian army turned out to be cut off from the supply of arms and personnel from the territory of Crimea. This is a brilliant chance for Ukraine to regain its territories.”
Without offering specifics, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on August 29, “The occupiers should know, we will oust them to the border… which has not changed,” a reference to Ukraine’s pre-2014 territory that included Crimea and the Donbas. “If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee.”
British intelligence quotes recent independent Russian media as saying that Vladimir Putin has sidelined his defence minister, Sergey Shoigu, and receives his briefings directly from commanders on the ground.
An IAEA team of inspectors travels to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Its day and time of arrival are unknown. It aims to assess staff work conditions, determine the functionality of safety systems, and “perform urgent safeguards activities”.