Live Updates: Russia’s War in Ukraine

Ukrainian officials gave optimistic assessments of the progress of the military counteroffensive in the Kherson region, nearly a week after acknowledging the operation had begun.

There are indications that Ukrainian forces have made modest gains on the ground, but also Russian counterattacks in some areas. Much of the fighting is taking place along Kherson’s border with Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian army’s southern command, said Ukraine was able to take any routes the Russians might use to bring in supplies.

Ukrainian fire caused « the destruction of the command posts of many powerful units, on which the Russian leadership made a big bet. That is, these are already decapitated units », a- she declared.

Humeniuk also said that further Russian attempts to build pontoon bridges across the Dnipro River to resupply their frontlines had been called off.

She claimed that Ukraine’s military operations would prevent the Russians from holding referendums in the areas they occupy. The resistance movement in the South has also been « a serious factor affecting their [Russian] plans and actions, because it is both a work of propaganda and a work of physical elimination of collaborators,” she said.

In his daily video message on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky also sounded an optimistic note on the battlefield. «

Ukrainian artillery « does everything to destroy the strike potential of the invaders », Zelensky added.

A bit of context: Ukrainian military officials gave few details on the progress made and to what extent. An axis of the counter-offensive seems to be south of the town of Kryvih Rih.

The Institute for War Studies estimated on Friday that the town of Kreshchenivka may now be in Ukrainian hands, as the Ukrainian General Staff had spoken of Russian airstrikes in the area. Remotely sensed fire data also suggests multiple explosions in the district over the past two days.