The Ukrainian army said it managed to push back Russian troops from the eastern bank of the Dnieper at a distance of 3 to 8 kilometers. This is the first concrete assessment of the advance of Kyiv forces in the area after months of disappointing counteroffensives, AFP reported on Sunday.

The last serious success of Ukraine in the counteroffensive was the recapture of the village of Robotyne (Zaporizhia region) in August.

Ukrainians claim the biggest advance in recent months

“Preliminary figures range from 3 to 8 km, depending on the features, geography and topography of the left bank,” army spokeswoman Natalia Humenyuk told Ukrainian television.

If this advance is confirmed, it will be the largest offensive of the Ukrainian army against the Russians in recent months.

However, Nataliya Humenyuk did not clarify whether Ukrainian forces fully control this area in the Kherson region (south), or whether the Russian army retreated before the onslaught of troops from Kyiv.

“The enemy continues artillery fire towards the right (western) bank,” she said, estimating the number of Russian troops in the area at “several tens of thousands.”

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said the spokeswoman of the Ukrainian army.

The capture of deep positions on the left bank of the Dnieper could allow a larger assault to the south.

But for this to happen, Ukraine must be able to deploy large numbers of troops, equipment and machinery in this difficult-to-reach, sandy and swampy area.

Ukrainians say that they created chaos on the eastern bank of the Dnieper

Ukrainian officials said this weekend that Russian forces suffered brigade-sized casualties after Ukrainian forces launched a ground operation on the east bank of the Dnieper River on October 17, apparently forcing Russian forces to shift combat power from other parts of Ukraine to the Kherson region.

The General Staff of Ukraine stated that since the beginning of the “measures” on the eastern bank, Ukrainian troops have destroyed 1,216 Russian soldiers and wounded another 2,217.

The General Staff of Ukraine also reported that since the beginning of the “measures” on the eastern coast, its troops destroyed 24 Russian tanks, 48 ​​armored personnel carriers, 89 artillery systems, 29 ammunition depots and 14 aircraft.

The Russian military said on Saturday it had fired heavily at Ukrainian forces in the Dnipro River area of ​​southern Ukraine, killing up to 75 Ukrainian troops.

The announcement came after Kyiv said on Friday that Ukrainian forces had pushed Russian troops out of positions on the east bank of the Dnieper in part of Kherson Oblast and had established several bridgeheads.

The long-awaited counteroffensive of Kyiv and its Western allies, launched last June, failed, allowing the Ukrainian army to recapture only a few villages in the south and east.

Kyiv hoped that this campaign would allow it to break through the Russian borders and liberate the occupied territories, but the Ukrainian military was unable to do so in the face of Russian firepower and reliable defensive lines.