- Ukraine’s counter-offensive in Kherson gains momentum – UK
- Russia is in ‘massive redeployment’ to the south, Ukraine says
- Russian-backed forces take over the Vuhlehirsk plant
- Blinken says he plans to call Russia’s Lavrov
July 28 (Reuters) – A Ukrainian counter-offensive has virtually cut off the Russian-held southern city of Kherson and left thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnipro River “highly vulnerable”, British defense and intelligence officials said on Thursday. intelligence
Ukraine has made clear it intends to retake Kherson, which fell to Russia in the first days of the invasion launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian forces likely established a bridgehead south of the Ingulets River and used new long-range artillery to damage at least three of the bridges crossing the Dnipro.
Sign up now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
“Russia’s 49th Army, stationed on the west bank of the Dnipro River, now looks very vulnerable,” he said in a regular intelligence bulletin on Twitter, adding that Kherson was virtually cut off from other Russian-held territories .
“Their loss severely undermines Russia’s attempts to paint the occupation as a success.”
Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, tweeted earlier that Russia was massing “the maximum number of troops” in the direction of Kherson, but did not elaborate.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Russia was carrying out a “massive redeployment” of forces from east to south in what was a strategic shift from attack to defense.
Zelenskiy said Ukraine will rebuild the Antonivskyi Bridge over the Dnipro and other crossings in the region.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure that the occupying forces have no logistical opportunity in our country,” he said in a speech Wednesday evening.
Russian officials had previously said pontoon bridges and ferries would be used to cross the river.
Russian-backed forces said on Wednesday they had captured the Soviet-era Vuhlehirsk coal-fired power plant, Ukraine’s second-largest, in what was Moscow’s first significant gain in more than three weeks. Read more
DIPLOMACY
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “denazify” its neighbor. Ukraine and its allies call the invasion an unprovoked war of aggression.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he planned a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the first between the two diplomats since before the war began.
The call in the coming days would not be “a negotiation on Ukraine,” Blinken told a news conference, reiterating Washington’s position that any negotiations to end the war must be between Kyiv and Moscow.
Russia has not received a formal request from Washington about a phone call between Blinken and Lavrov, the TASS news agency reported.
The United States has made a “substantial offer” to Russia to release the American citizens of WNBA star Brittney Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, Blinken said, without elaborating on what the U.S. United offered in exchange. Read more
Blinken said he would press Lavrov to respond to the offer.
A source familiar with the situation confirmed a CNN report that Washington was willing to exchange Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States, as part of a deal.
Aside from discussing the Americans detained by Russia, Blinken said he would raise with Lavrov the tentative agreement on grain exports reached last week between Russia, the United States, Turkey and Ukraine.
Russia cut gas flows to Europe on Wednesday in an energy standoff with the European Union. It has blocked Ukraine’s grain exports since the invasion, but on Friday agreed to allow deliveries across the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait and to world markets. Read more
The deal was thrown into doubt almost immediately when Russia fired cruise missiles at Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port, on Saturday, just 12 hours after the deal was signed.
Before the invasion and subsequent sanctions, Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly a third of world wheat exports.
Sign up now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Reuters bureau reports; Writing by Grant McCool and Stephen Coates; Edited by Cynthia Osterman and Lincoln Feast.
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.