Comment KHERSON REGION, Ukraine — Ukraine’s military has kept Ukrainians and the world guessing about the counteroffensive it claims it has launched in this Russian-held territory, but Oleksander Skovorodka is already sensing a change. The 32-year-old resident of Kamyane, a village surrounded by Russian forces, said the volume of artillery fire from both directions had increased. He and his neighbors have watched Ukrainian attack helicopters buzz through the treetops on their way south. On Wednesday afternoon, Ukrainian military vehicles drove through the dirt lane in the northwest corner of the district where he and his wife, Taisia, were driving on their way to buy food. “We can hear more fighting, more shelling,” he said. “The Russians are right there.” The strip is one route that allows them to avoid areas controlled by the Russian invaders, who now occupy almost all of this strategically vital 11,000 square mile region, including its capital, the Black Sea port of Cherson. The lane skirts forests and pastures and leads to a makeshift gravel and pipe bridge across the Inhulets River, which separates Kherson from Ukrainian-controlled areas to the north and west. In recent days, Kherson residents have used the crossing to flee the fighting, most of them heading for the nearby city of Kryvyi Rih. “They cross every day,” said Oleksander Pokusayev, who lives in the nearby village of Shestirnya, just inside free Ukraine. He had driven his Soviet-era Voskhod motorcycle to the side of the Kherson Bridge, where he often fishes. “I saw two minibuses full of people earlier today,” he said. With the only official crossing more than 100 miles to the north in Zaporizhzhia – an abandoned village where access is controlled by rival armies at either end of a tensely independent land – evacuees are increasingly having to find other options. Some swim in the Inhulets, which is what Pokusayev’s sister-in-law did when she fled the Russian invaders in the village of Borozenske. New findings reveal machines “filtering” Ukrainians from Russia “He had to walk through the woods for two days. She was swimming across and Ukrainian soldiers helped her to safety,” he said. “Her husband is still on the possessed side.” As he spoke, a Ukrainian patrol arrived, stopping to check on the safety of four Washington Post journalists. Because of the offensive and increasing maneuvers on both sides, Ukrainian soldiers said the Kherson side of the river was increasingly insecure. “It’s very dangerous here now,” said one soldier, who asked not to be identified by name or unit. “The Russians are very close and their weapons are not very accurate. Their missiles can go anywhere.” Kherson was the first strategic city captured by Russia when the invasion began in late February, and the wider Kherson region helps form Russian President Vladimir Putin’s coveted “land bridge” to Crimea, which the Russians invaded and annexed in 2014. Local residents have seen control of villages in Kherson swing back and forth. After the Russians seized many of the communities in the first weeks of the invasion, Ukrainian forces swept through the Inhulets in May, freeing several of them. Ukrainian troops used Pokusayev’s village as a base for more than a month of shelling before this push. Ukraine lures Russian missiles with US missile system decoys Now, residents hope the new attack will push the Russians out of artillery range. So far, however, the bombings have worsened. “They are still hitting a lot of houses. they are trying to hit the church,” he said, pointing to the golden dome visible across the river. “My house was shot twice.” For months, Western intelligence and military analysts have said Ukraine is preparing a major campaign to retake Kherson and the surrounding region. The regional capital, a gateway between the Dnieper River and the Black Sea, is an important economic hub. Ukraine hopes that retaking the region from the Russians – who reportedly planned to hold a referendum before annexing it as part of Russia – will change the dynamics of what has become a deadlocked war. It is unclear whether the operation launched on Monday is the intended large-scale campaign. Information from inside Herson was scarce. Military officials have barred journalists from front-line areas across the country until at least Monday, a level of restrictions unprecedented in the six months since the Russian offensive began. They asked Ukrainians to be patient and warned that operational security meant information about the campaign would be slow to emerge. “It will take as long as it needs to and nobody is going to rush it because people expect something dramatic and exciting,” said Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defense minister who now heads the Center for Defense Strategies, a military think tank in Kyiv. “They will do it safely, however long it takes,” Zagorodnyuk said. Ukrainian officials said “fierce fighting” was raging in the area and that their forces had destroyed several weapons caches and command posts. At the start of the campaign, Ukraine said it had demolished major bridges on the Dnieper, cutting off Russian supply routes. Russia has acknowledged that a major campaign is underway, but has said it is already taking a heavy toll in Ukrainian lives, tanks and equipment. Wounded soldiers reportedly began arriving in Mykolaiv, a coastal town just outside the region’s western border. A Pentagon official on Monday verified an “uptick” in fighting inside Kherson, including artillery and rocket attacks, but could not confirm that a major counterattack was underway. The information vacuum has left Kherson residents inside and outside the territory scrambling to learn more. In Kryvyi Rih, where the city government has set up 89 shelters to house more than 35,000 displaced people from Kherson, people who fled the fighting are moving through Telegram channels and chat groups to find out what is happening at home. Svetlana Kulybanych, 60, and her family live in a Kryvyi Rih orphanage that has been turned into a shelter. He regularly calls one of the few friends left in their hometown, Nova Kakhovka, 25 miles from the city of Kherson. Something big is definitely happening, the friend said Wednesday. “He said that the Ukrainians are shelling the city and have destroyed many warehouses and places where the Russians had stored their equipment,” Kulybanych said. “Now the Russians are hiding between the buildings.” If this is Ukraine’s big push to oust the Russians, Kulybanych is praying the troops prevail soon. She and her husband, who is recovering from a heart attack he suffered the day of the invasion, want to go home. “We want to start rebuilding while we’re still young and strong enough to do it,” he said.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The last: Grain shipments from Ukraine are being accelerated under the agreement reached by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports had sent food prices skyrocketing and raised fears of more famine in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including cargoes of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed. The battle: The conflict on the ground continues as Russia uses its heavy artillery advantage to pound Ukrainian forces, which have at times managed to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukraine’s hopes rest on the liberation of the Russian-held Kherson region, and eventually Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Fears of disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remain as both sides accuse each other of bombing it. . The weapons: Western arms supplies are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike further behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used a range of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts. Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground since the start of the war — here are some of their strongest works. How you can help: Here are ways those in the US can help support the Ukrainian people as well as the donations people have made around the world. Read his full coverage Russia-Ukraine crisis. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
