The former commander of pro-Russian separatists in Donbas, Ihor Girkin, gave an assessment of the situation at the front in southern Ukraine, saying that the defense of Kherson could be called into question in the event of a new front breakthrough. the Ukrainian army.

“The enemy is now threatening a breakthrough in the direction of Berislav and from Berislav will block one of the 4 convenient crossings that exist across the Dnipro in the area [orașului] Nova Kakhovka. If the enemy succeeds in this direction, maintaining control over Kherson will be called into question,” he says regarding the capital of the region of the same name.

He further explains the successes of Ukrainians in this area:

“You can say, the same, everything is the same. Our front line forces, at least in the front line, are a network of fortified posts about 2 kilometers apart, no less. These fortified points are defended by platoon groups of 15, 20 or 25 men at best.”

Girkin notes that when the Ukrainians introduced 3 battalions, two mechanized and one tank, into this area, some of the Russian groups “were instantly crushed”, while others, who were threatened by the surroundings, were forced to withdraw immediately.

“Actually, according to the information we received from this front, the weather played a big role in the fact that in the end the enemy did not pass over us on the outskirts of Berislav. Due to the heavy rain, the enemy’s equipment could only move on roads with a hard surface or, better, dirt roads,” continues Ihor Girkin.

“Rural and field maneuvers, which they (the Ukrainians) actively used in Liman, turned out to be impossible due to the rains,” he sums up his assessment, referring to the liberation of this city in the Donetsk region by Ukrainian forces last Saturday, just a day after President Volodymyr Putin officially announced the annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories.

• On the same topic: VIDEO What remained after the chaotic retreat of the Russian army from Liman: dead soldiers, abandoned on the side of the road, personal belongings and equipment, a destroyed city

The Russians say that bad weather stopped the Ukrainian army in Kherson

The deputy head of the regional administration established by the Russians in Kherson, Kyrylo Stremousov, in his turn stated that bad weather stopped the Ukrainian offensive.

“They just got stuck in the mud, and our aerospace forces defeated those Ukrainian Nazis, but that’s another story,” he said in the speech of Olga Skabeeva, host of “Russia-1”.

However, many of their statements regarding the situation at the front raised doubts among the guests of the TV channel’s set.

Although Stremousov assured that all attacks by Ukrainians “end in complete disorder and fatal destruction of those who go on the offensive”, therefore the occupiers of Kherson do not panic, literally a day later he issued a completely different message.

In a 4-minute video posted on his Telegram channel, he suggested that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu should shoot himself because of the situation at the front.

“Indeed, many say: if the Minister of Defense allowed this state of affairs, he could have shot himself, just like the officers,” he said, adding that “but you know that the word “officer” is an obscure word. a word for many.”

Instead, he praised the heroism he said was shown by Russian soldiers at the front, saying that “the Ministry of Defense consists not only of ministers, generals, corrupt people and various other scumbags, but also of all those heroes who gave their lives today “. , which remain until the end.”

Although his boss, Volodymyr Saldo, heads the Russian occupation authorities in Kherson, Stremousov is the most famous official planted by the Russians here, thanks to numerous interventions in the Russian press and video messages that he regularly publishes on his Telegram channel. .

The former commander of the Donbas separatists also canceled the latest offensive of the Russian army

In another assessment of the situation at the front at the end of September, Igor Girkin spoke darkly about the latest offensive of the Russian army in Ukraine, in the direction of the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region.

The main burden of the Russian offensive here fell on Wagner’s private hired Kremlin group.

“[Mercenarii] “The Wagnerites” will advance until reinforcements arrive,” Girkin answered a question from one of the subscribers, after which he explained that the “Wagnerites” are advancing in the “operational shadow” of the offensive of Ukrainian troops in the so-called north. Luhansk People’s Republic (in Kharkiv).

Igor Girkin stated that this means that regardless of the success of the attack on the Bakhmut direction, it will lose its value and the Russian troops will have to either stop or withdraw to other positions altogether, since they are already flanked.

“If the enemy manages to capture Liman, if he manages to reach Svatovoy, even if our troops capture Bakhmut in the meantime, it will not bring any benefit to our troops,” Girkin said on September 26.

The Ukrainian army triumphantly entered Liman less than a week later, on October 1. It is not yet clear what stage the Bakhmut operation is at, or whether the Russians have completely abandoned it.

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