The destroyed Antonivskyi bridge and the east and west banks of the Dnipro river, outside Kherson, Ukraine, on November 15.
The destroyed Antonivskyi bridge and the east and west banks of the Dnipro river, outside Kherson, Ukraine, on November 15. (Reuters)

Russian forces continue to equip “defensive borders” on the east bank of the Dnipro River, as well as regrouping their units, the Ukrainian military said.

Russia “continues to provide logistical support to units in the Kherson region, looking for safe ways to supply equipment, weapons and supplies,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South said. 

Russian forces withdrew to the east bank last week, but Ukrainian shelling of the area has continued. 

After targeting Russian positions around Kakhovka, “filtration measures against the local population have been intensified. In Kakhovka town itself, Russian invaders are mining infrastructure facilities and destroying cell towers,” according to the command.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff echoed the Operational Command South’s comments, saying Russian troops continue the forced evacuation of Ukrainians from the occupied areas of the Kherson region.

On Wednesday night, the population from Novokyivka, a village not far from Crimea, had been forced to leave their homes, and the hospital in Nova Kakhovka stopped functioning because all medical equipment and ambulances were stolen, according to the General Staff.

Brigadier Gen. Oleksii Hromov, deputy chief of the General Staff, said that the presence of Ukrainian troops on the west bank of the Dnipro River “allows us to control the territory close to the temporarily occupied peninsula of Crimea.” Ukrainian artillery was “doing their best to hit” Russia “at the maximum range of our weapons,” he added. 

Russian shelling continued against communities further north, across the river, including Myrivka, Marhanets and Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, it said.

In the Black Sea, the command said Russia “has increased the number of cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea naval grouping. Currently, there are 3 of them, one of which is underwater. They are ready for a salvo by two dozen Kalibr missiles.”

Source: www.cnn.com