Ukrainian troops are working to push back Russian forces positioned on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River, the army announced this Saturday, a day after Ukraine claimed to have secured multiple bridgeheads on that side of the river that divides the region of Kherson, partially occupied.
Ukraine’s establishment of footholds on the Russian bank of the Dnieper represents a small but potentially significant strategic advance amid a largely stagnant war. The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces has stated that its troops had repelled 12 attacks by the Russian army between Friday and Saturday.
The Ukrainians were now trying to “push back the Russian army units as much as possible to make life easier on the (western) shore of the Kherson region, so that they receive less shelling,” said Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Southern Operational Command. from Ukraine.
In response, the Russian military used “tactical aviation,” including Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, to try to pin down Ukrainian troops, Humeniuk said.
The wide river is a natural dividing line along the southern battlefront. Since withdrawing from the city of Kherson and retreating across the Dnieper a year ago, Moscow’s forces have regularly shelled communities on the Ukrainian side of the river to prevent Kiev’s soldiers from advancing into Russian-annexed Crimea.
In the capital, hundreds of people gathered to oppose corruption and demand the reallocation of public funds to the armed forces. The demonstration was the 10th in a series of protests in kyiv amid outrage over municipal projects. On Saturday, protesters carried Ukrainian flags and banners with slogans such as “We need drones, not stadiums.”
“I have organized demonstrations in more than 100 cities protesting against corruption in Ukraine and for more money, which should go to the army,” said Maria Barbash, an activist with the organization Money for the Armed Forces. “The first priority of our budget – the local budgets and the central budget – should be the military.”