The Russian-installed governor of the Kherson region, Volodymyr Saldo, confirmed the Ukrainian advance on Wednesday, according to The Kyiv Independent website.
Saldo said on the Telegram social messaging app that small groups of Ukrainian soldiers operated "in the area between a railway bridge over Dnipro and Krynky," a village some 35 kilometers east of the regional capital Kherson City.
Nataliia Humeniuk, the spokesperson for Ukraine's Southern Operational Command, said that Russian forces were "actively defending" near the Dnipro River, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Ukraine has been conducting cross-river raids into Kherson province's occupied east bank since February, and has recently been making "tactical-level gains" in the area, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
As part of its latest counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine is also pushing through the Zaporizhzhia region in the southeast, in a bid to reach the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov, as well as aiming to retake the city of Bakhmut in the east, according to news outlets.
Russia strikes Ukraine's Kherson region with missiles
Meanwhile, Russia attacked Ukraine's Kherson region with missiles overnight into Thursday, The Kyiv Independent reported.
Russian S-300 missiles struck a settlement in the Chuihuv district, according to provincial governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Information about casualties was still being investigated, local officials said.
Ukraine's Kherson region is regularly targeted by Russian troops, including the capital Kherson City, liberated by Ukraine in November last year, where the latest strikes injured two people on Tuesday, according to The Kyiv Independent.
UN officials visit Ukraine to investigate human rights violations by Russia
On Thursday, the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine was set to wrap up a four-day visit to the war-torn country, according to officials.
The commissioners met with government officials, members of civil society, as well as representatives of UN agencies and international organisations, as part of their "ongoing fact-finding mission to investigate alleged human rights violations and abuses, and international humanitarian law violations" during the Russian invasion, the UN said.
The commission is expected to submit a comprehensive report to the UN Human Rights Council in March.
On Tuesday, the US Department of State announced USD 1 million in funding for the International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine.
Thursday is day 631 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
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Source: The Kyiv Independent, ISW, United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, state.gov
