Ukraine Moves in Kherson Are Worrying Russia

Russian social media users are expressing concern about reports of Ukraine's advances in the southern region of Kherson by the Dnieper river.

Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, with the aim of recapturing Russian-occupied territory. The main focus of the fighting has been in and around Bakhmut in the Donetsk oblast, as well as in western Zaporizhzhia further south.

Russia occupies most of the Kherson oblast, which borders Crimea, the Moscow-controlled peninsula Kyiv has vowed to take back.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said this week its troops had conducted an assault and launched air strikes in Kherson, against the village of Pishchanivka, located on the Russian-held east bank of the Dnieper.

Geolocated footage published Wednesday showed Ukrainian advances north of the village as well as into Poyma, which is about two miles from the river. The advances reported by Kyiv on Wednesday and Thursday chimed with reports on Russian Telegram channels that Ukraine had taken territory in the area.

The Russian military blog Rybar, who has escalated warnings about a Ukrainian offensive across the river, said Ukrainian Navy's 35th and 36th Marine Brigades had managed to temporarily occupy Poyma on Tuesday afternoon, although Russian forces later pushed Ukrainian forces back toward the river.

"It raises the question of how such a breakthrough was allowed to reach two populated areas?" Rybar said. Other Russian Telegram sources said the advances showed Ukraine was looking to expand a bridgehead on the east bank and the initial stages of a larger offensive operation across the river.

The Russian defense ministry, which Newsweek has emailed for comment, acknowledged the latest Ukrainian operations, but said Russian troops had managed to stop four Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups in Kherson.

Vladimir Putin has described Ukrainian activity in the Kherson Oblast as the "next counteroffensive," although he dismissed such as a move as having "no result yet" during a press conference on his visit to China on Wednesday.

In its daily update, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Wednesday that Russian concerns about the ability to repel a Ukrainian offensive operation across the Dnieper may be linked to the state of the Russian forces on the left bank.

It said Russia's command has drawn more elite units from the Kherson direction to support defensive operations in western Zaporizhzhia because Kherson was considered "a quiet sector" and the troops there are thought to be "relatively less combat effective."

The think tank also said that Ukrainian forces are unlikely to have created a bridgehead on the east bank of Kherson Oblast that was "suitable for the further maneuver of sizeable mechanized forces at this time."