The governor of the vital port city of Kherson is facing another wave of invading Russian forces. They are currently some 500 kilometers south of the capital city. Kherson Governor Hennadiy Lahuta told Kyiv-based Ukrayinska Pravda that a huge column of Russian war armor was approaching the city where the River Dnipro flows into the Black Sea in southern Ukraine. Kherson Mayor Ihor Kolyhayev has asked for a green corridor for the city’s wounded and dead and for food and medicine to be allowed in.
The Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that Russian forces have already erected roadblocks on the outskirts of Kherson. The city is located 150 kilometers from the Russian-occupied Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
The region’s seizure would be vital for Russia to establish a land bridge to the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine over in 2014 and supply water that Kyiv authorities blocked after the illegal annexation.
Before Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation” to invade more of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Ukrainian military intelligence said that Moscow had a permanent military force of 33,000 troops on the peninsula reinforced with sophisticated naval, ground and air weaponry.
When Moscow’s larger-scale invasion commenced last week Russian forces from Crimea simultaneously attacked five southern Ukrainian regions, including Kherson.
As a result, the port city has been encircled and Ukraine’s military set up a new defense line near Melitopol in Zaporizhzhya region.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych also announced that the “hottest spot right now is Kherson. There are street battles between the local defense and the Russian military. The second point is northwest of Kyiv, where the Russians are trying to group up, and the Ukrainian forces are inflicting powerful air strikes on them. Kharkiv also remains a hot spot.”
