Ukrainian military says more than 100 Russian soldiers were killed and seven tanks were destroyed in the fighting.
The Ukrainian military says it has killed dozens of Russian soldiers in fighting in the south, including the Kherson region that is the focus of Kyiv’s counteroffensive in that part of the country and a key link in Moscow’s supply lines.
Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnieper River had been cut, the military’s southern command said on Saturday, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.
Defence and intelligence officials from the UK, which has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies in the West since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, portrayed Russian forces as struggling to maintain momentum.
Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly damage three bridges across the Dnieper in recent weeks, cutting off Kherson city and – in the assessment of British defence officials – leaving Russia’s 49th Army stationed on the west bank of the river highly vulnerable.
The Ukrainian military’s southern command said more than 100 Russian soldiers had been killed and seven tanks had been destroyed in fighting in the south on Friday.
The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, told residents to stay away from Russian ammunition dumps.
“The Ukrainian army is pouring it on against the Russians and this is only the beginning,” Sobolevsky wrote on the Telegram app.
Ukraine says dozens of Russian soldiers killed in the south | Russia-Ukraine war News | Al Jazeera