Counterattack on Russian-held territory in southern Ukraine has succeeded in wrestling back towns from Moscow’s troops, president says.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed a series of battlefield successes during his forces’ counteroffensive against Russian troops in the occupied southern region of Kherson.

Zelenskyy thanked soldiers for taking two settlements in the south along with additional territory in the east, citing “good reports” from his military commanders and intelligence chief.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, posted an image of troops on Sunday raising the Ukrainian flag over a village he said was in the south, which is the main focus of the counterattack.

“Vysokopillya. Kherson region. Ukraine. Today,” Tymoshenko wrote on Facebook over a photograph of three soldiers on rooftops, one of them fixing a Ukrainian flag.

‘Starve the Russians’
Ukraine began the counteroffensive last week, targeting the south, particularly the Kherson region, which Russia seized early in the conflict.

After Ukrainian forces’ intense shelling of clusters of Russian troops in the region, the Russians banned the movement of residents, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.

“The Ukrainian counteroffensive is making verifiable progress in the south and the east,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington, DC-based think-tank.

“The pace of the counteroffensive will likely change dramatically from day to day as Ukrainian forces work to starve the Russians of necessary supplies, disrupt their command and control, and weaken their morale even as counteroffensive ground assaults continue.”

Ukrainian Telegram channels reported explosions at the Antonivsky bridge near the city of Kherson, occupied by Russian forces.

Ukrainian missiles have severely damaged the bridge over the past weeks, but Russian troops were trying to repair it or set up a pontoon crossing or barges to maintain supplies to their units.

The Russia-appointed administration of the Kherson region confirmed on Monday the bridge had been seriously damaged by Ukraine shelling and it was closed to traffic.

Plans for a referendum on Kherson joining Russia had been “paused” because of the security situation, Russian state-owned news agency TASS quoted Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the administration, as saying.

Russian-installed officials previously suggested referendums on joining Russia would be held in September in Kherson, as well as in the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, to coincide with local elections in Russia.

‘Several months at least’
The ultimate goal of the counterattack is to retake the strategic city of Kherson, with a population of about 300,000, from the Russians – the first significant urban centre to fall after the invasion on February 24.

Taras Berezovets, a Ukraine special forces officers, told Al Jazeera the speed of the counterattack to retake Kherson depends largely on when military equipment from the West arrives.

“Currently the armed forces of Ukraine feel the lack of armoured vehicles for our infantry. We feel the lack of our air forces. We need tanks and we need artillery first of all. From this perspective, I would say any sort of counteroffensive [to retake Kherson city] would be possible after receiving all of these armaments. It will take several months at least,” said Berezovets.

Russia has launched 25 missile attacks and more than 22 air raids on military and civilian targets in Ukraine in the last 24 hours, the Ukrainian military statement added, keeping up its focus on establishing full control over the Donetsk region.

Moscow denied any military progress by Ukrainian troops during the start of the counterattack last week, saying many of Kyiv’s soldiers were killed and wounded.

It was not possible for Al Jazeera to independently confirm the claims made by either side.

Besieged nuclear plant
Russian authorities said the situation was calm around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine after UN inspectors said it had again lost external power.

Three strong explosions were heard in Enerhodar, the curfew-bound city where the plant is located, but there were no immediate details of damage and casualties, Russia’s official TASS news agency said on Monday.

Ukrainian troops made two attempts to deploy assault teams in the vicinity of the city, it said, adding they were using drones, heavy artillery, and rocket-launching systems.

The last main external power line was cut off, although a reserve line kept up the electricity supply to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. Only one of its six reactors remained in operation, it said.

Russian troops seized the plant shortly after President Vladimir Putin sent his army over the border on February 24. It has become a focal point of the conflict. Each side has blamed the other for shelling, which has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.

Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian official in the Zaporizhzhia region, told Komsomolskaya Pravda radio there had been no shelling or incursions, and IAEA experts were expected to work at the plant until at least Monday.

DerrickzB:
Al Jazeera again?? that born my mistake and son of Ahab nsiba don bite you too?? . Small time you go change the source..

Before you give yourself and your follow western slaves false hopes!! Ukraine ain’t taking sh!t…

Counter offensive that more Ukrainian pigs died in days than the first few weeks of the SMO!! Abeg rest

nsiba:


Towns are being liberated steadily its just a matter of time you are captured and you will be crucified lizard style

atmy1:
Ukraine and the West are fighting a media and political war while Russia is conducting a Special Military Operation. You can glimpse the differences in their approaches to the war from what is most important to them. Ukraine is more interested in taking photos at any little space it can find for as long as possible even if it loses that territory in the next minute just to show it's western masters it is capable of taken space from the Russians.

On the other hand, Russia is simply interested in securing the donbas from Ukrainian army threats, protecting the Crimea and it's supply lines, and then destroying the capability of the Ukrainian army to wage a large scale war. Even though this trend is glaring even from western reports of the war, western media still doesn't understand and would rather reconstruct the narratives of the war according to what they want.

nsiba:


Towns are being liberated steadily its just a matter of time you are captured and you will be crucified lizard style

nsiba:


[s]Towns are being liberated steadily its just a matter of time you are captured and you will be crucified lizard style

texazzpete:


E say na ‘special military operation’

All this because your master Putin is afraid to call it a war so he doesn’t have to weaken his political base by doing a mass mobilization.

Meanwhile Ukraine is slowly crushing the Russian troops around Kherson and even surging out of Kharkiv.

Russian lives are being reaped like wheat

DerrickzB:
[/s]

No be only towns, Na tiro!! Guy u be dunce ooo!! Name one village that Ukraine has taken!!??

You just get free data and come online to rant like a mentally unstable person that you father is!!.. tufia

Just40:
The Kherson offensive is over .... Ukraine lost too much manpower and equipment with no real gain as the Russians are slowly grinding their capability.. out of the 35,000 infantry, they've lost more than half.

As for Kharkiv... The Ukrainians are trying but by a week time, they would have lost too much men to even make a break into that storage depo

texazzpete:


Meanwhile Russian milbloggers on Telegram are wailing about both the Kherson offensive and the new Kharkiv front.

Lmao. You cannot be serious with those figures

Opolopoopolonio:
Where do pro-Putin luuuunatics get their information from sef

Al Jazeera is not credible enough again

Meanwhile Putin is wailing hard that sanctions should be lifted before the resumption of gas supply to Europe. I thought pro-Putin luuunatics insisted the sanctions had not effect on Russia.

Just40:
you really don't get it right?
If sanctions were hurting the Russians, why on earth will they already have an export surplus of 140 billion dollars and the year hasn't even ended?

Putin's comment are in response to cries from the EU.

Opolopoopolonio:


Which imaginary surplus is that

Putin stopped gas supply to Europe because he's in pains because of sanctions.

Can you imagine Russia buying weapons from North Korea and Iran

Just40:
It's not imaginary.. it's confirmed fact


It is not true the Russia is buying artillery from North Korea, it is one of the fog of war stories cooked up by the US. You should be used to it by now.

Russia has enough artillery piece and shells in storage in the Urals to last them 10 years of hot peer to peer war without production... You can ask Rand corporation report of 2016 and 2019... That is were the current war was planned and everything is going according to the US plan

Just40:
well the Ukrainians themselves said it, you can ask Washington post for your update and the figures are real.

As for Kharkiv, like I said earlier, the Ukrainians are trying but like everyone have learnt over the past 200 years.... Russian fortifications are the hardest to overcome..and the Ukrainians are paying that price with their blood using a war strategy from the Americans who are are yet to understand the Russians BTG formation.

The Russians just sent out 2 plane loads of special forces from Grozny to help keep the line in Kharkiv.
The Ukrainian losses in Kharkiv are already mounting

Opolopoopolonio:


And Russia has not debunked the news

Because of sanctions, Russia can't get badly needed spares/spare parts.

texazzpete:


The same Russian front lines that are being overrun as we speak?

Even your Russian milbloggers like Girkin and WarGunzo are in extreme panic mode.

Just40:
Why will Russia waste it energy debunking anything when they have a lot of things much more important, on their hand? In fact, giving credence to it will only make it seem true. Do you remember the ghost of Kyiv stories?

Not really because of sanctions but because of the fact that Russia spread out it production of the parts of most of it equipments in other Soviet republics to create economic activities there.

Two things sanctions do to Russia.
It help makes them independent in developing other sectors of their economy that they outsourced.

As a design and built engineering powerhouse, they will only grow stronger. We've seen it in the pharmaceutical sector were Russia was completely dependent on the EU and US but after the 2014 sanctions Russia redirected monies into Pharma and today they have a massive pharma industry with drugs for a lot of situations.
We've seen it with softwares, Agriculture ( currently they have a huge agriculture sector that do not need European goods after Putin gave subsides to farmers and made land available to commercial farmers..) and so many other sectors

Opolopoopolonio:


You are just making imaginary assertions.

Russia is reeling under Western sanctions. Putin is lamenting. I just saw it again on Channels TV news just now.

Just40:
It's not imaginary.. it's confirmed fact


It is not true the Russia is buying artillery from North Korea, it is one of the fog of war stories cooked up by the US. You should be used to it by now.

Russia has enough artillery piece and shells in storage in the Urals to last them 10 years of hot peer to peer war without production... You can ask Rand corporation report of 2016 and 2019... That is were the current war was planned and everything is going according to the US plan

Just40:
You don't know all these things hence why you think it is imaginary but they are all documented fact.

You want facts and you say channels tv? That's funny

Reeling under sanctions will mean dwindling export but Russia has exported 300 billion dollars worth of goods in the first half of this year which is almost equal to what they exported last year.

Opolopoopolonio:


Look Putin was speaking himself. Did Channels put words in his mouth

What's your source

Do you know how much the war is costing Russia A war Putin thought would have been over in one week

Come on!

BentizilL:

What's wrong with Russia buying artillery from Iran and NK??
Are they not people and country again..
I don't entertain all those cheap point US and it allies are trying to score by making this seem like it's some big deal...

Just40:
Check Russia total 2021 export and compare it with that of the first half of this year.

Who told you Putin thought the war would have been over in a week? Someone who has been battling NATO since 2014 and finally decided to take his military to war to completely put an end to something that began in 2014 after the US called his bluff will definitely have a 10 years war plan. Hence why he has asked his troops not to advance but just play a slow grinding just to keep the war going as long as possible the same way the US want it to continue for ever.

Opolopoopolonio:


You are saying rubbish jor

Russia was sweeping through the Donbas region until HIMARS entered the equation and the progress halted. Now Ukraine are on the offensive.

Nobody gave Ukraine any chance against Russia at the start of the war, not even US. The US even offered to evacuate Zelenskyy but he refused when Kyiv came under siege.

Today, everybody don see Russia finish. Nobody is scared of Russia again. FInland and Sweden are joining NATO.

Idle Putin went to look for trouble. Now, he is being kept busy

Russia is reeling under sanctions. Fact!

atmy1:
Towns they can barely hold for 24 hours. Sometimes they have lost the territory before the news comes out. There are already thousands of obituaries in this senseless offensive just for the sake of photo ops. I was glad they made this move so they can leave the safety of kindergartens, shopping malls and hospitals they were hiding in to get trapped in death tunnels. Kherson offensive very good for the Russian coalition.

Just40:
you're the one who created this topic... Now I know why you're typing rubbish to keep it going.

The Russian commanders were instructed to hold on to their advances much to the displeasure of their field commanders. The Himars do not really make a significant impact on the battlefield the Manpads made a significant impact on the battlefield than Himars had.
The Ukrainians have had so many offensives and most of them hasn't had significant gains.

And you think the Ukrainians stand a chance against the Russians? Even the Ukrainians themselves know that they don't stand a chance but they'll fight anyway because Slavs are proud people but there's always a point when theyve had enough of the bleeding and will demand an end just as expected by the Rand corporation. Infact zelensky himself drew up a peace plan and beg the Russians to Agree to it offering exactly what the Minsk agreement was about but Bojo went to warn him not to sign it.

What this has done is show why everyone is usually afraid of the Russian machine, when it starts rolling, no one can stop it.
If 190,000 mean can capture 25% of Ukraine despite the fact that the Ukrainian military outnumber them 5 to 1 in manpower, you'll be a fool to face them...
That fear is the reason why the Finn's and Sweds are rushing to join NATO.
Nothing has really changed on the future battlefield because the Russians have always counted the Finns and Sweds as part of NATO in their battlefield preparation. It is part of the reasons why they've spent billions on military installations in the artic

leofab:
copy and paste.. you are eating gibberish from intel Slava Z and lord of war.. I pity you