Ukrainian soldiers in a village retaken from Russia near the border of Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblast. Credit… Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
ON THE BORDER OF KHERSON REGION, Ukraine — The road to Russian-occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine passes through a no-man’s land of charred wheat fields and cratered villages. Rocket tails stick out of the asphalt and the boom of incoming and outgoing artillery bounces off the tidy abandoned houses.
Along an irregular front line, Ukrainian forces are preparing for one of the most ambitious and significant military actions of the war: retaking Kherson. The first city to fall to Russian forces, Kherson and the fertile land surrounding it are a key Russian beachhead, from which its military continually launches attacks across a wide swath of Ukrainian territory . Regaining control could also help restore momentum in Ukraine and give its troops a much-needed morale boost after months of brutal fighting.
“We want to liberate our territory and return everything to our control,” said Senior Lieutenant Sergei Savchenko, whose unit with Ukraine’s 28th Brigade is dug in along the western border of the Kherson region. “We are ready. We’ve wanted it for a long time.”
Fighting on the region’s western and northern borders is already intensifying as Ukrainian forces — currently about 30 miles from the city at their closest point — laid the groundwork for a major offensive push. For a month, Ukraine’s artillery and rocket forces have softened Russian positions using a range of new Western-supplied weapons such as the US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.
The attacks, some captured on video, have taken out forward command centers and key ammunition depots, which explode into glowing fireballs when hit, Ukrainian officials say. They claim that hundreds of Russian troops have been killed and that the attacks have disrupted Russia’s logistics infrastructure. Supply depots and command posts have been pushed away from the front line, they say, making it difficult for Russia to keep its soldiers armed and fed. (Not all of their claims can be independently verified.)
“We are ready,” said Senior Lieutenant Sergei Savchenko. Credit… Daniel Berehulak for The New York TimesA school in a village retaken by Ukrainian forces in Mykolaiv last week. Credit…Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
“You could compare it to waves,” said a senior Ukrainian military official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military planning. “Right now we’re making small waves and creating the conditions to make bigger ones.”
Unlike in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, where a massive Russian force continues to gobble up territory, in the Kherson region, the Ukrainian military appears to have begun to reverse course, albeit delicately. After losing control of most of the region in the first weeks of the war, Ukrainian troops have now liberated 44 towns and villages along the border regions, about 15 percent of the territory, according to the military governor from the Kherson region, Dmytro Butrii.
Senior Ukrainian officials have not given a clear timetable for retaking Kherson, but President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it clear it is a priority.
“Our forces are moving into the region step by step,” Zelensky said this week.
A Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south has sparked debate among Western officials and some analysts over whether Ukraine was ready for such a large effort or whether it is the best use of resources when Russian advances have mainly come in the Donbass.
Still, Ukrainian officials and several Western intelligence officials said it was important for Ukraine to try to launch a counterattack. They say the Russian military is in a relatively weaker position, having expended weapons and personnel in its Donbas offensive. Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service, MI6, predicted the Russians would be forced to pause, providing an opening for Ukrainian forces.
Still, any effort to regain significant territory would be a huge undertaking. Russian forces have now occupied the Kherson region for nearly five months and have been largely undisturbed in their efforts to harden military positions and prepare for an assault. They have installed new leaders in the city itself as well as in major cities and towns.
Michael Maldonado, a former US Marine from Kansas, in Mykolaiv. Credit… Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times
In preparation for a possible referendum on union with Russia, the military administration installed by the Kremlin in Kherson announced this month that it was creating a central election commission.
Retaking Kherson would require huge numbers of troops and far more offensive weapons systems than Ukraine currently has available, both Western and Ukrainian officials say.
The Kherson region is largely rural, but the city of Kherson is a sprawling metropolis straddling the Dnipro River. Wresting it from Russian forces could involve vicious urban fighting with huge losses in soldiers and property.
“We look at Kherson like it’s the next Fallujah,” said Michael Maldonado, a 34-year-old former U.S. Marine from Kansas who has joined the 28th Brigade. “It’s going to be a lot of crazy fights.”
The Ukrainian military will also have to take into account the large civilian population. The city has lost about a third of its pre-war population of about 300,000, although an all-out assault involving bombing could put civilian lives at risk, something officials seem aware of Ukrainians
Marc SantoraJulian E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt contributed to this report.