Ukraine’s armed forces have two settlements in the Kherson region, shortly after claiming full control of the key eastern supply hub of Lyman, according to Kyiv, in what could serve as yet another blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, inform Newsweek.
In an address to the nation on Sunday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two settlements of the occupied southern Kherson region—Arkhangelsk and Myrolyubivka—had been liberated amid Kyiv’s ongoing and successful counteroffensive efforts. Zelensky also announced the liberation of Lyman—a key railway junction, located in the eastern Donetsk region, that was seized by Russian forces in May, three months after Putin’s war against Ukraine began.
Kyiv launched an offensive to retake Kherson from Russia troops in early September, and that effort has moved slower against the backdrop of a lightning offensive that saw Ukraine recapture swathes of territory in Kharkiv in the northeast.
«The story of the liberation of Lyman in the Donetsk region has now become the most popular in the media,» Zelensky said in his video address on Sunday night. «But the successes of our soldiers are not limited to Lyman.»
Multiple pro-Kremlin Telegram channels have commented on the situation in Kherson, with one noting that it is currently «difficult» for Russian forces. «A difficult situation is beginning to take shape in the Kherson direction. It is too early to talk about the loss of control of units and unorganised withdrawal,» one user wrote on Sunday. «In the coming hours, if no action is taken, the situation could turn into a disaster.»
Glen Howard, the president of the analytical center The Jamestown Foundation, told a local news outlet that should Ukraine liberate Kherson in full, it would serve as the «third turning point in the war.» Russia on Friday illegally proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions: Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.
«If the Ukrainians can move their line of defense beyond the Oskil River, as well as liberate territories in the Luhansk Region, this will form a new line of defense before the onset of winter,» Howard said. «This will lay the foundation for further success and even an exit to Mariupol. What will happen in the next few weeks near Kherson is very important.» Howard said he believes Ukraine will proceed «to the line of the Dnipro [Dnieper] River and will be able to prepare an offensive on Chongar, cut off the water supply to Crimea. «Meanwhile, Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of Kherson’s Kremlin-installed regional administration, said on Telegram that Russian forces had pushed back Ukraine’s soldiers in the region.