Ukraine. Natalia Humeniuk: reports about the landing on the left bank of the Dnieper are premature

Commenting on the reports about the landing, published in a recent analysis by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Natalia Humeniuk said that “it is premature to talk about it” as an established fact. For now, these are “analysts’ conclusions” – emphasized the spokeswoman, quoted by Ukrinform.

– We conduct combat operations in various directions and in various ways. We emphasize the fight against artillery, because one of the tasks is to clear some of the territories on the left bank of enemy troops, said Humeniuk.

The spokeswoman for the Ukrainian forces operating in the south of the country explained that crossing the river is necessary to improve the situation on its right bank because “occupation troops are shelling and attacking it” from across the Dnieper. – So, for now, the most important task of the Ukrainian forces is to “improve the lives of the civilian population” – that is, the inhabitants of the Kherson Oblast on the right (western) side of the river – she said.

Humeniuk warned that such reports (about troops’ progress) are “an obstacle to the actions of the Ukrainian army.”

ISW reported last Thursday that Ukrainian troops probably made a successful landing on the left bank of the Dnieper, east of Kherson, on October 17-18 and that Russian sources are afraid of “larger Ukrainian operations” in this southern region, due to the fact that the aggressor’s forces are weakened there.

The Institute for War Studies is not the only source that reported on the Ukrainian landing on the left bank of the Dnieper.

Russian pro-war bloggers reported on Telegram channels that “Ukrainians are preparing to break through the defense” and that “Ukrainian forces have transferred additional troops to the left bank, occupied the villages of Poema and Pishchanivka, and will soon also occupy the town of Oleshki.”

The Ukrainian section of the BBC drew attention to the report of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces of October 18, which was supposed to confirm the reports about the landing. The staff report mentioned the name of a village located on the left bank of the Dnieper, which was shelled by the Russians. This is about Pishchanivka, where – according to Russian bloggers – Ukrainian soldiers arrived.

Kherson, which the Russians occupied in early March 2022, troops Ukraine liberated eight months later. Just a few days after withdrawing from Kherson, the invaders began to shell the city and its surroundings from artillery positions located on the other side of the Dnieper. Civilians are regularly killed as a result of these enemy actions.