Ukrainian Marines fortified banks of Dnipro River to strike Russians, official says

• Ukrainian marines are fortifying a captured river bank under heavy Russian fire, an official said.
• Serhiy Bratchuk said Ukrainian marines were responding from the east bank, according to Espreso TV.
• Ukrainian and Russian forces suffered losses during heavy fighting.

Ukrainian marines have barricaded their positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River and are retaliating against Russian forces there, according to a Ukrainian official.

Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Ukrainian Volunteer Army and head of the Odessa regional military administration, told the Ukrainian TV channel Espreso that the marines retained the beachheads they secured on the east bank, in the village of Krynky.

“The Marines are not just holding on, but right now we can talk about counter-battery fighting, firing not only from the right bank but also from the left bank,” Bratchuk said. according to a translation from the Kyiv Post.

He added that Ukraine’s 501st Separate Marine Battalion destroyed an unknown number of Russian trucks on Sunday on an axis separating the towns of Oleshky and Nova Kakhovka on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River – another sign of their positions reinforced.

On Sunday, army spokeswoman Natalia Gumenyuk told Ukrainian television that their soldiers had pushed Russian forces back up to eight kilometers from the river bank. by AFP.

It would be a rare success for Ukrainian troops, who have struggled to take control of the territory, as Business Insider’s Alia Shoaib points out. Previously reported.

Russian military bloggers also confirmed Ukraine’s advances, saying Ukrainian troops are expanding their control in the western part of Krynky, according to the Institute for the Study of War, based in Washington DC.

In a speech Last week at the Hudson Institute, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said Ukrainian forces had gained a “foothold” on the eastern bank of the Dnipro and covered 70 percent of the distance to Crimea. .

In the meantime, The Russian Defense Ministry said On Tuesday, it sent Su-34 fighter-bombers to support ground forces in southern Donetsk.

In a separate Telegram articlethe ministry claimed that the Ukrainian offensives had cost Ukraine dearly, with 75 soldiers killed.

Bratchuk acknowledged that counteroffensives in the region would not come without losses, but he said holding the Dnipro bridgehead was necessary to protect the troops, according to the Kyiv Post translation.