On the afternoon of August 29, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine officially said that they were conducting offensive operations in the south of Ukraine. Russian occupiers escaped from the battlefield in some directions of the Kherson region.
In mid-July, Defense Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Reznikov announced that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had ordered the military to de-occupy coastal areas in southern Ukraine.
Since that time, many events have taken place in the south of Ukraine, in particular, the Ukrainian army has continuously struck bridges around Kherson and destroyed warehouses with ammunition in the rear of the Russian group in the Kherson region.
However, it was too early to call such actions a full-scale counteroffensive, although the degree of its expectation in society was high.
The Russian occupiers captured the Kherson region from the very beginning of the full-scale war. Enemy troops broke into Kherson itself on March 1. However, the city government continued to work in the occupied city under the Ukrainian flag. The city also regularly held peaceful protests against the occupation until the repressions began.
Russia occupied the city council only on April 25, when the front in the region had already stabilized. In the Kherson region, mass repressions were launched with the abduction of residents.
The main battles in which the Armed Forces liberated the territories of the Kherson region took place in March and the first half of April. Since then, the front line has not changed significantly, and the sides have moved to a positional war. Unlike, for example, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where the Ukrainian army was forced to retreat from time to time.
Thus, at the end of July, the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked all three bridges over the Dnipro in the Kherson region, which were controlled by the invaders: Antonivskyy, Dariivskyy, and Kakhovskyy.
“This significantly weakened their (Russians – ed.) logistical movements,” explained Dmytro Butriy, the acting head of the Kherson administration at the time.
As of August 1, according to the Kherson administration, 46 settlements were liberated.
In early August, British intelligence reported that Russia’s war with Ukraine was about to enter a new phase when the fiercest fighting would shift to a front line roughly 350 km long, stretching southwest from Zaporizhzhia to Kherson, parallel to the Dnipro River.
The Ukrainian authorities urged residents to evacuate urgently, because “the development of events is powerful and dynamic.”
On August 29, the Ukrainian army finally announced that they had destroyed almost all bridges in the Kherson region thanks to the HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems.
According to data from the American Institute for the Study of War and the unofficial DeepState map of the fighting, as of August 29, the front line looked like:
Also, according to Volodymyr Litvinov, the head of the Berislav district state administration, the Armed Forces struck the Berislav Machine Building Plant in the Kherson region, where Russian occupiers seized equipment and manpower.
The Head of the Press Center of the Operational Command “South” Natalia Gumeniuk made a statement regarding the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kherson region.
“Any military operation requires silence. In the conditions of a hybrid war, such a reaction to the news from the front harms the Armed Forces. The news about the offensive in the Southern direction is there, it inspired the Ukrainians. But for now, we must realize that any actions must first be completed, only then they will be effective. Now we need to wait and understand the rules and sequence of actions of military units.”
Gumeniuk emphasized that the enemy’s forces in the South of Ukraine are quite powerful.
Later, CNN anchor Jim Sciutto, citing information from the US Department of Defense, reported that the Ukrainian army has begun “probing” the front line in the southern direction before preparing a major counteroffensive.
Details of the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces in the south of Ukraine have appeared on August 29.
The public of “Wagners” writes that our military conducted several successful attacks. In particular, they managed to advance 10 km in the direction of Andriivka-Lozove and occupy the village of Sukhyi Stavok (50-60 km northwest of Nova Kakhovka).
Very brave Ukrainian soldier gives an update after today’s assault, obviously location and identity not specified. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/8DendjM92b
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 29, 2022
Terrorist Ihor Strilkov-Ghirkin admitted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a large-scale attack from the bridgehead on the Ingulets River, from the Andriivka district, and achieved success.
Girkin stated that the occupiers were trapped. They can no longer ferry equipment to the other side of the Dnipro:
“All fixed bridges across the Dnipro (two road and two railway) are out of order. You can now cross the Dnipro by vehicles only via ferry and pontoon crossings.”
Military expert Oleg Zhdanov said that Russian occupiers built three lines of defense in the Kherson region.
Later on Augsut 29, it became known, that the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit a barge belonging to the occupiers near the Antonivskyy bridge.
In addition, heavy explosions are reported in Nova Kakhovka. According to preliminary information, there is a hit on the enemy’s ammunition depot.
In the evening on August 29, CNN reported that Ukrainian troops returned four villages from Russian occupation: Nova Dmytrivka, Arkhangelske, Tomyna Balka and Pravdyne.
The military officer, who spoke to journalists, said that the main direction of the offensive was village of Pravdyne, and the main target was Kherson.
Uaposition memo: The Kherson region is very important for Russian invaders because it is the land corridor that connects the east and occupied Crimea (Ukraine’s south). They were able to transport and withdraw their troops, weapons and provide their army and occupying power with other necessary supplies through the region.
See also: The Ukrainian army launched offensive actions in many directions in the south
