Ukraine claims that several Russians were killed in the battle near Kherson
On the 30th of July, ODESSA/KYIV, Ukraine, At least dozens of Russian troops were killed and two ammunition depots were damaged in combat in the Kherson area, which is a critical supply route for Moscow and a focus of Kiev’s counter-offensive in the south.
Russian soldiers west of the Dnipro River have been cut off from supplies in seized Crimea and the east, according to the military’s southern command.
Defense and intelligence officials from Britain, one of Ukraine’s staunchest friends in the West since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, described Russian troops as straining to keep up the pace of the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukraine has recently damaged three bridges across the Dnipro with long-range missile systems given by the West, cutting off Kherson and leaving Russia’s 49th Army stationed on the west side of the river – in the view of British defence authorities – dangerously exposed.
Over a hundred Russian troops and seven tanks were slain, according to Ukraine’s southern command, on Friday in the southern provinces of Kherson, Mykolaiv, and Odesa
Kherson’s first deputy mayor, Yuri Sobolevsky, urged locals to avoid Russian weapons dumps, which he said were dangerous.
As Sobolevsky stated on the Telegram app, “The Ukrainian army is pouring it on on the Russians and this is merely the beginning.”
Dmytro Butriy, the pro-Ukrainian governor of the Kherson area, claimed Berislav district was especially heavily struck. The hydroelectric power station at Kakhovka, which is located northwest of Berislav, is across the river.
No one house has been left intact in certain places, and the infrastructure has been completely devastated. People are now living in basements,” Butriy posted on Telegram.
Reuters was unable to corroborate the claims.
The Kherson region’s Russian-appointed government has disregarded Western and Ukrainian assessments of the situation, officials there said earlier this week.
Russia may have built two pontoon bridges and a ferry system to replace bridges lost in Ukrainian airstrikes, according to an intelligence report from the British defence ministry on Saturday.
The Russian-installed authorities in seized territory in southern Ukraine were “likely coercing the public into revealing personal information in order to compile voting registers,” the report said, adding that the referendums may be held later this year.
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After losing tens of thousands of troops in the conflict, the Russian government was characterised as “becoming desperate” by the ministry on Friday. According to Richard Moore, director-general of MI6, Russia is “running out of steam,” as he said on Twitter.
THE DEATH TOLL IN PRISON
A missile attack or explosion in eastern Donetsk province seems to have killed scores of Ukrainian POWs, prompting a back-and-forth between Ukraine and Russia. Olenivka, a frontline town controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, was the scene of the incident early on Friday morning.
On Saturday, the Russian defence ministry issued a list of Ukrainian POWs it said were killed or injured in a missile attack by the Ukrainian military, according to the Russian report. According to the report, 50 inmates were murdered and another 73 were wounded when HIMARS rockets fired on the facility.
Ukraine’s military denied any involvement, claiming that Russian fire had attacked the jail in order to conceal abuses occurring inside. In a statement on Friday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for worldwide condemnation of Russia’s war crimes.
Reuters was unable to independently verify all of the conflicting accounts of what happened, but journalists on the ground inside the jail were able to corroborate the deaths of a few people.
“All political, criminal and moral responsibility for the horrible atrocity against Ukrainians lies on (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskiy, his criminal government, and Washington who supports them,” Russian defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Saturday.
Charity associated to Ukraine’s Azov unit said on Telegram that they were unable to validate the Russian list of persons dead and injured as legitimate.
Metal beds littered the inside of the burned-out structure, some of which contained charred victims, while others were lined up on military stretchers or piled up on the ground outside the building.
Shell bits were arranged on the seat in a row. There were no obvious marks on the shards, and it was unclear where they had come from.
Wounded people might be evacuated from the location by the Red Cross, who have requested access to it.
Since the invasion, Ukraine has accused Russia of war crimes and atrocities against civilians, claiming that it has documented over 10,000 instances of such behaviour. In Russia, people are not targeted.
