Ukraine Watch...

[PS_RalphW]

Now there are reports of Ukraine breaking the Russian line in north of the Kherson region and advancing 30km south on the West Bank of the river. This appears to be another outflanking attempt similar to Lyman. The Russian forces there have been starved of supplies for a couple of months so probably don’t have much to provide a counter attack. If this works out then another significant chunk of territory will have been captured and large numbers of the better trained Russian forces will have been captured, or have been forced to abandon their equipment.

[UndercoverElephant]

Now there are reports of Ukraine breaking the Russian line in north of the Kherson region and advancing 30km south on the West Bank of the river. This appears to be another outflanking attempt similar to Lyman. The Russian forces there have been starved of supplies for a couple of months so probably don’t have much to provide a counter attack. If this works out then another significant chunk of territory will have been captured and large numbers of the better trained Russian forces will have been captured, or have been forced to abandon their equipment.

Reports now that the Ukrainian army is approaching Beryslav from both the North and along the west bank of the river. That means they are about to surround a large number of Russian troops who have been given "no retreat" orders from Putin, and can't easily retreat anyway because the bridges are down.

If Putin is going to use nuclear weapons, I guess it needs to be in the near future.

[PS_RalphW]

Us has made it clear that a single nuke from Russia will result in NATO sinking the Black Sea fleet and killing every Russian soldier in Ukraine.

[clv101]

Jeffrey Sachs going off script on Bloomberg, it was the US that did it:

https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/ ... oomberg%2F

[adam2]

Ukrainian forces seem to have gained more ground, though reports differ as to the extent of the gains.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63126156

[Vortex2]

Ho, humm .. a nuclear weapons convoy is moving across Russia ...

[clv101]

Yeah, they move around all the time. Nothing to see here.

[PS_RalphW]

The Russian lines in the northern half of the Kherson region appear to be collapsing right on cue. 6 previously defended towns on a river along the front have been abandoned to the advancing Ukrainians today. The Russians will probably try to defend the town of Dnieper, as it is their last effective river crossing. Losing that would be another major blow.

Russia will again have donated more hardware to Ukraine than they destroyed in the fighting in the region.

[adam2]

I have heard a report that several russian officers have succumbed to long range snipers, in one case the sniper was a 13 year old child, selected for perfect eyesight and good intelligence rather than military experience.

In another case an "automatic grenade launching machine" was used with great success against russian forces. Not certain exactly what sort of a weapon that is. But it killed dozens of russians and the rest "all ran away" discarding uniforms, weapons, and stores. The abandoned stores included vodka, tinned hot dogs, and large shells. No small arms ammunition though which was what was wanted.

[clv101]

13? I thought using child soldiers was a 'bad thing'?

[adam2]

13? I thought using child soldiers was a 'bad thing'?

I am not very keen, but in war things seem different. I would have done the same in the last war if the enemy had invaded.

[UndercoverElephant]

The Russians will probably try to defend the town of Dnieper, as it is their last effective river crossing.

I looked on a map and could not find that town or the crossing. I have read that both crossings down river from where they currently are are already out, only crossable on foot. The Russians are already at great risk of losing everything north/west of the River.

[PS_RalphW]

My bad. I meant the bridge at Nova Kahovka. It was bombed, but I think it may be passable again

[kenneal - lagger]

My bad. I meant the bridge at Nova Kahovka. It was bombed, but I think it may be passable again

The Ukrainians let them rebuild it and then hit it with artillery or HIMARS again. Most of the Russian supplies are coming over the river in small quantities on small ferries according to reports.

[BritDownUnder]

I'd be interested to know what the West's response to chemical weapons attacks would be.

It looks like there is a dam at the bottom of that large reservoir near to Kherson on the Dnieper/Dnipro river. Might be tempting to blow that if they are retreating although this may be the same dam that supplies water to Crimea - Oh Dear.

Interestingly on the other side of the river South of Kherson there seems to be a lot of centre pivot irrigation there as seen from Google Earth.