(Moscow) Ukraine has managed to establish positions on the Russian-controlled bank of the Dnieper, in the south of the country, the head of the occupation authorities installed by Moscow admitted on Wednesday, while assuring that the Russian army was endure “hell” from Ukrainian soldiers.
If the Ukrainian army could break through the Russian lines in this sector, it would be a significant success, while its vast counter-offensive elsewhere in the country since June has not had the expected results.
“About one and a half companies, divided into small groups, are on a stretch from the railway bridge to (the village of) Krynky,” Vladimir Saldo, the leader of the occupied part of the Kherson region which is the first Russian official to admit that Ukrainian forces successfully crossed the Dnieper in this area.
A company can be made up of several dozen or hundreds of soldiers, according to the military glossary of the Russian news agency Tass.
Mr. Saldo sought to downplay the importance of this Ukrainian advance, saying that Russian reinforcements had been deployed and Ukrainian forces were under heavy shelling.
“Now additional (Russian) forces have been deployed. The adversary is stuck in Krynky, in a hell of fire: bombs, rockets, munitions from thermobaric systems, artillery, drones are falling on them,” he said again on Telegram.
He claimed to inflict significant losses on the Ukrainians, without mentioning those of the Russians.
According to Russian and Ukrainian military bloggers and experts who analyzed open source intelligence, the Ukrainian army has managed to anchor several positions since the end of October on the occupied bank of the Dnieper, in particular in the village of Krynky in the southern region. from Kherson.
If Ukraine managed to consolidate and increase its positions in this area, it could hope for a breakthrough, with the Dnieper constituting the front in southern Ukraine since the Russian retreat from the city of Kherson in November 2022.
Kyiv maintains secrecy about its operations in this area, and Moscow has until now not commented on the situation in this sector.
Kremlin ‘regrets’ Finland’s plans to close border with Russia
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it “deeply regrets” that Finland plans to close its border with Russia, in the face of the high number of irregular migrant crossings and in a context of growing tensions.
Relations between the two neighbors have deteriorated considerably since February 2022 and the Russian offensive in Ukraine, an attack which led Finland, worried about its own security, to join NATO, an alliance that Moscow considers a threat.
“We deeply regret that the Finnish authorities have chosen the path of deliberate distancing from the good character of the relations that we had before,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the press.
He was questioned about the fact that Finland announced on Tuesday that it was considering restricting border traffic or even closing its crossing points with Russia, after an increase in the number of crossings of irregular migrants.
Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo accused Russia of deliberately letting migrants cross the border even though they do not have valid documents, suggesting it was an attempt to destabilize his country.
Finland shares a 1,340 kilometer border with Russia.
After the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, Finland saw an increase in arrivals at its border with Russia of people without visas, mainly Russians and Ukrainians.