Ukraine massively counterattacked on a large scale, cutting off Russia’s supply of supplies to Kherson

Kherson was the first major city to fall when Russian forces began their special military operation into Ukraine.

Since then, Kherson has been used by Moscow as a strategic hub and transit station to help Russian forces organize attacks across southern Ukraine.

The Ukrainian General Staff said that, realizing that Moscow’s resources had been reduced because of the battle in the eastern Donbass region, Kiev launched a major counter-offensive to push the Russian army into an “adverse defensive position”.

The Ukrainian counterattack targeted the villages of Andriivka, Bilohirka and Bila Krynytsia, as well as the Russian supply routes across the Dnipro River.

Serhii Hlan, of the Kherson regional council, said Ukrainian forces were “continuing their offensive operations and have pushed back 9km from the Berislav district”.

Hlan claimed that Kiev had “divided the Russian army into two parts and surrounded the enemy group in Davidiv Brid”.

Ukraine said there was an air battle to gain control of the sky above Kherson area, in which the Ukrainian Air Force claimed to have shot down a Russian Su-35 fighter jet.

According to the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), the Russian military was forced to retreat to defensive positions following the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

“Although the Ukrainian counter-offensive seems unlikely to recapture Kherson territory any time soon, it is likely to disrupt Russian operations and force Russia to deploy reinforcements to the region. Kherson, which is mainly held by subprime entities,” ISW said in its latest report.

“The counterattacks could also slow down Russia’s efforts to consolidate administrative control over southern Ukraine,” according to ISW.

Kiev warned that Moscow was reinforcing throughout the Kherson region by establishing new defensive positions in Nova Kakhovka and Stepanivka to fend off the Ukrainian offensive.

The Moscow-appointed pro-Russian government in Kherson has asked Moscow to set up military bases in the area.

However, Russia’s foreign minister on May 30 said that pushing Ukrainian troops out of the eastern Donbass region remains an “absolute priority” of Moscow.

“Our absolute priority is to liberate the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are now recognized by the Russian Federation as independent states,” said Sergei Lavrov. As for the rest of the territories in Ukraine, where there are people who do not want to cut ties with Russia, the people of these regions will decide their own path.”

The statement was made by Lavrov as Russian troops are said to have entered the center of Severodonetsk, the last city controlled by Ukraine in Luhansk in the Donbass industrial region.

Moscow has shifted its focus to Donbass, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, after failing to capture Kiev in the early stages of the war.