After the success in Kherson, Ukraine’s recapture of territories could continue. According to Russian media reports, the Ukrainian military launched an attack on the strategically important Kinburn peninsula. However, the occupiers could have won this fight.
According to Russian information, Ukrainian troops launched an attack on the Kinburn Peninsula southwest of Kherson on Monday night. Russian military bloggers report that Ukrainian troops landed on the peninsula, but then Russian troops won the battles. This is what the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes in its latest report. The bloggers fear the attack could be an indication of Ukraine’s ability to land on the east bank of the Dnipro.
According to the BBC, after the success in Kherson, Ukrainian forces have started liberating the Kinburn Peninsula. “Currently the fighting (on the Kinburn Spit) is going on,” the broadcaster quoted Natalia Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the “South” Operations Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as saying last Saturday. “And if we have already set ourselves the goal of liberating the entire Mykolaiv region, then it will also be liberated.”
On Monday, several Russian telegram channels and the state agency “Ria Novosti” reported that Ukrainian troops had landed on the peninsula. “A subversive group of the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed. The destruction of four light motor boats was confirmed. About 20 Ukrainian soldiers were killed,” the media said, citing a source in the Russian security forces.
Kyiv has not yet commented on the operation. There are only reports from Ukrainian sources that Russian forces fired anti-aircraft missiles in the Mykolaiv region on Monday to disrupt Ukrainian fire control over the Kinburn Peninsula, ISW writes. The BBC also refers to a video posted by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense on social media showing the movement of a group of Ukrainian soldiers on light motor boats. “Probably it’s about forcing the Dnipro or the Dnipro estuary,” writes the broadcaster.
In addition, an emoji-only Twitter post by Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s presidential office, indicated that Ukraine was preparing to liberate the Kinburn Peninsula. According to the BBC, the tweet could “easily be deciphered as confirmation of the liberation of Kinburn.”
Kinburn is part of the Mykolaiv region. According to Governor Vitalii Kim, the peninsula is the last area in the region under Russian control. Russian troops captured it at the very beginning of the invasion, in the spring of this year. The occupation of the Kinburn Spit enabled them to gain control of a large part of the Black Sea and blockade the ports of Kherson and Mykolaiv.
In addition, by occupying the peninsula, the Russian artillery can attack the Ukrainian port of Ochakiv. The base of the Naval Special Operations Center of the Ukrainian Navy is located in this city. Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Ochakiv a major threat right from the start of the war. The city is the symbol of NATO’s incursion into Moscow’s historic sphere of influence.
