The US think tank reported the development in its latest update on the war in Ukraine on Tuesday night.
The ISW said: “Ukrainian forces appear to have conducted a limited raid across the Dnipro River and landed on the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast.”
According to the US think tank, it remained unclear whether Ukrainian troops had established an enduring presence on the east bank of the Dnipro.
Russian military bloggers on Tuesday reported that Ukrainian forces “landed up to seven boats, each carrying around six to seven people,” near the settlement of Kozachi Laheri on the east bank, broke through Russian defensive lines, and “advanced up to 800 meters deep,” the ISW noted.
The head of Russian occupation authorities in the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, claimed that Russian artillery fire had repulsed the Ukrainian boats and there were no Ukrainian forces near Kozachi Laheri, The Kyiv Independent website reported.
However, prominent Russian military bloggers said that Ukrainian troops had “managed to utilize tactical surprise and land on the east bank before engaging Russian forces in small arms exchanges,” the ISW reported.
Later in the day, Russian forces reportedly retook Kozachi Laheri and skirmishes occurred between Russian and Ukrainian troops in shoreline areas on the east bank of the Dnipro, according to Russian sources.
So far, according to currently available evidence and based on current Russian reporting, the situation on the east bank of the Kherson region “is more consistent with a limited cross-river raid than a wider Ukrainian operation,” the ISW said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops on Tuesday continued their summer counteroffensive on at least two sectors of the front, according to the US think tank.
Ukrainian forces carried out counteroffensive operations in the Berdyansk direction (western Donetsk–eastern Zaporizhia Oblast area) and in the Melitopol direction (western Zaporizhia Oblast), the General Staff in Kyiv said.
US president approves training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets
US President Joe Biden has greenlighted the training of Ukrainian pilots on American F-16 fighter jets, a Pentagon spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday night.
Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told a media briefing: “Denmark and the Netherlands are taking the lead on training ... The President has given the green light to allow and support the training to move forward.”
Referring to media reports that some Ukrainian pilots had been identified to begin F-16 training, Singh said there were no “further updates at this time” about specific pilots being trained, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
In May, Biden told his Group of Seven (G7) counterparts at the bloc’s summit in Hiroshima, Japan, that the United States would allow allies to provide American-made F-16 and other advanced fighter jets to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion, and would also train Ukrainian pilots to use the aircraft.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Wednesday is day 532 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, ISW, The Kyiv Independent, defense.gov, Ukrainska Pravda