The defense line of Russian invaders in the vital Kherson region of Southern Ukraine has been broken in several spots in surprising breakthroughs.
This comes just hours after the Ukrainian military began a long-anticipated, large-scale counter-offensive to liberate its land from the hordes of bloodthirsty Vladimir Putin.
Breaking the Back of Putin’s Invasion
Defenders of plucky Ukraine have managed not only to stop the Russian invaders all across the map, but also to inflict upon them very severe losses.
Besides killing thousands of Russian troops, Ukrainians have destroyed mind-blowing amounts of Russian military equipment – about 12,000 units.
Ukraine’s attention, as of late, has been best focused on Kherson in the deep south, a city of 300,000 and the only Ukrainian provincial capital to have been captured by the Russian invaders.
Russian video. August 29. The cameraman says that the 🇺🇦 Forces are firing heavily from all types of weapons. 🇺🇦soldiers occupied the first line of defense. The 109th regiment of the DPR retreated from its positions in the Kherson region, Russian paratroopers fled the battlefield pic.twitter.com/TnQtbQfS5c
— Paul Jawin (@PaulJawin) August 29, 2022
🇺🇦🇷🇺 Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urges Russian soldiers to flee following Kyiv's claim of a breakthrough in the Kherson region.
He said that soldiers too afraid to return to Russia can surrender, under the protection of the Geneva convention. #UkraineRussia pic.twitter.com/WsHx1Ep2SA
— euronews (@euronews) August 30, 2022
Kherson, Russians on the run. pic.twitter.com/gtV53wryVT
— Jay in Kyiv (@JayinKyiv) August 29, 2022
Ukraine’s 128th Mountain Assault Brigade troops in Kherson region pic.twitter.com/SDZcNIOHMV
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) August 30, 2022
Awaited Since the Spring
Since the beginning of the summer, there have been hopes that Ukrainians would be able to stage a large counter-offensive in order to crush Russians west of the Dnipro and liberate the city of Kherson.
It was on Monday, August 29 that the Ukrainian military officially announced and began its much-anticipated counter-attack in the south. This could defeat the 30,000-strong Russian contingent and liberate the major port city.
To top it all off, the news about the start of the Ukrainian offensive was swiftly followed by news confirmed by Ukrainian authorities that their forces took only several hours to break the first defensive line of the Russians, The Daily Mail reported.
The Ukrainian military group called Kakhova managed to force the 109 regiments of Russian proxy troops from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic to retreat.
A Russian military’s paratrooper unit supporting the Moscow proxies is reported to have been forced to flee from its positions at the same time.
Sergey Khlan, an advisor to the regional governor of Kherson, told Ukraine’s Pryamyi television channel this is the announcement the nation and its allies have been awaiting since the spring of this year.
Kherson was captured by the Russians on March 3, nine days into the war.
Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman of the Ukrainian Southern Command, said about a dozen Russian military depots in and around Kherson were destroyed in preparation for the counter-offensive over the past week.
Many Ukrainian military analysts refused to provide details on their YouTube channels about the operation in order to avoid giving information that the Russians could use.
However, a YouTube video showing the bloodied face of a Russian proxy soldier made headlines. In the video, the panting soldier sounds panicked as he describes how the Ukrainian artillery and Air Force descended upon Russian occupiers of the Kherson region.
🇺🇦forces confirm new strikes on 3 bridges in Kherson Oblast
Ukrainian Army in south regions killed approximately 160 Russian soldiers & destroyed 60 pieces of equipment overnight, striking 3 bridges in the oblast, Operational Command South reported https://t.co/zyj8QUduVv
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) August 30, 2022
over 25,000 Russian Soldiers Trapped in Kherson Region-
this is how crazy the war is and the attitude of Russia's military- intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his wife.https://t.co/8jaYe4KZ9B <—- more on this conversation pic.twitter.com/I8ZNMWLRCa— zen pro (@zenpro49747912) August 30, 2022
"It broke in half and fell into the river" says the Russian soldier stuck in Kherson about Antonovsky in a phone call with his wife, intercepted by GUR.
They also discuss how the all their annual leave have been cancelled due to this incident. pic.twitter.com/xymhIUOQPp
— Dmitri (@wartranslated) August 30, 2022
This article appeared in BeyondNews and has been published here with permission.These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of Aug. 30, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/gvvvxV7EU3
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 30, 2022