Russians lay mines in channels in island zone of Kherson region – spox Voloshyn

In the island zone of the Kherson region, Russian occupiers continue to lay mines in channels and set up firing positions on certain islands. At the same time, the Defense Forces destroy 2–3 enemy boats every day.

The spokesperson for the Southern Defense Forces, Vladyslav Voloshyn, stated this in a comment to Ukrinform.

"To secure themselves in the island zone of the Kherson region, the enemy continues to mine channels, engineer their firing positions, actively conducts reconnaissance, and tries to establish logistics routes to those islands where a small number of their groups still remain, which we constantly eliminate. However, on some islands they still have observation posts. They are trying to supply them and carry out rotations. But we strike whenever we see any watercraft. In particular, we destroy 2–3 enemy boats there every day," Voloshyn noted.

He added that the enemy is not very active in this area, but constantly uses drones to strike energy facilities, gas pipelines, and water pipelines in the Kherson region.

Answering a question about whether there is an accumulation of Russian troops in the south, Voloshyn said that the enemy is forced to constantly pull in manpower because it loses about 300 personnel there every day.

"Up to the line of combat contact, the enemy constantly pulls in personnel for assault groups, since overall in the south, including the Zaporizhzhia directions, the enemy loses 300–350 people. These assault groups need to be brought in, as well as concentration points close to the line of combat contact. In addition, they need to pull in personnel for consolidation groups, because where they have pushed back our Defense Forces of Ukraine, where, for example, they have infiltrated, groups immediately follow behind them that try to consolidate positions and bring logistics. This is a rather complex process. The tactics of such infiltration and the use of small assault groups bring them partial results," he explained. He added that the situation remains difficult, with the enemy making slight advances in certain sections of the line of combat contact.

As Ukrinform previously reported, there were 126 combat engagements on the front over the past day. In particular, in the Dnipro direction, the Defense Forces repelled two Russian attacks toward the Antonivskyi Bridge.

Photo provided by Vladyslav Voloshyn