"The Armed Forces of Ukraine have launched offensive actions on many fronts in Ukraine's South," said Ukrainian army spokeswoman Nataliya Humenyuk, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Ukraine breaks through Russian defences in Kherson region?
Moreover, the Ukrainian military’s Kakhovka Operational Group published a video “in which it is said that the Ukrainian army broke through the first line of Russian defence in Kherson Oblast,” Ukrainska Pravda added.
"The 109th regiment of the so-called ‘DPR’ (Donetsk People's Republic) has withdrawn from its positions in Kherson Oblast, and the Russian elite Airborne, who supported them, fled the battlefield," Ukraine’s army said, as cited by Ukrainska Pravda.
The website also reported that the operational group “published a video in which a Russian soldier complains that the Ukrainian Forces have broken through the first line of defence in Kherson Oblast.”
The southern Kherson region, which adjoins the Russian-annexed Crimean peninsula, has been the only area of Ukraine captured in its entirety by Russian forces following the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Confirmation from various sources
Ukrainska Pravda said its own sources “have confirmed a breakthrough by the Ukrainian forces.”
It quoted another source in the southern group of Ukraine’s army as saying that there had been “a breakthrough in some areas of the first line of Russian defence,” but "it's too early to say anything in particular yet because it's a large front."
At the same time, Ukraine's Hromadske TV said “three of its sources in Ukraine's military confirmed that the first line of defence had been broken,” according to the British broadcaster BBC.
Ukraine destroys three bridges on Dnipro River using HIMARS: officials
Meanwhile, Natalia Humeniuk stressed that "any military operation requires 'silence' regime", calling on Ukrainians to be patient.
She added: "Our main efforts have been focused on destroying the enemy's ammunition storage bases. More than 10 of such bases were destroyed over the past week."
Humeniuk wouldn’t be drawn on the details, however, the BBC reported.
In a Telegram post, the Ukrainian army also claimed on Monday to have hit numerous targets in the Kherson region, including a factory in Beryslav and a Russian army post by the North Crimean Canal.
In addition, Kyiv officials claim to have used US-provided advanced rocket-systems, HIMARS, to destroy three bridges crossing the Dnipro River.
According to Ukraine, the strikes will “cut the Russian forces occupying Kherson off from weapons and troop reinforcements,” the BBC reported.
Monday is day 187 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
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Source: PAP, pravda.com.ua, bbc.com, belsat.eu