Ukrainian officials said the military struck a key target in Kherson as pro-Russian authorities urged civilians to leave the southern region.
Ukrainian troops attacked Russian air defenses near the stadium in the city of Kherson, said Shershi Kran, a member of the Kherson regional council. These systems were also used to shell Mykolaiv, sometimes to devastating effect.
Khlan posted a photo purportedly showing “wrecked equipment.”
There was also further attack in the Antonsky Bridge area, where Russian troops and the pro-Russian government have been operating ferries and pontoons to resupply the West Bank, where thousands of Russian troops still remain, Crane said.
In the city of Kakhovka, on the east bank of the Dnieper, three streets closest to the river were forcibly evacuated, he said. He said the Russians were “digging holes in the city and setting up concrete trenches”.
Crane said the Russians “are digging on the east bank, preparing for defense, thinking this makes our offensive impossible. But the resistance movement and the Ukrainian armed forces continue to fight.”
Khlan reiterated what other Ukrainian officials have said: Russian-backed authorities have left the city of Kherson on the West Bank to open an office in Skadovsk, closer to Crimea.
“As for the urgent mandatory ‘evacuations’ called for by the Russians, our people are not going anywhere. If the locals don’t have a chance to go to the places that were disbanded.” [Ukrainian-held] territory or decide to stay at home, they definitely don’t want to go to Russia,” Khlan said.