Russian forces are persistently attempting to gain a foothold across the Dnipro River in Ukraine, sending troops on high-risk missions to secure territory for potential peace talks, according to a report by The Guardian.
Oleksandr Prokudin, the Ukrainian governor of the Kherson region, said that Russian troops were attempting to cross the river at four different points. He suggested that these efforts were aimed at justifying Moscow’s claim over the entire oblast, one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia has declared it intends to annex.
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‘At any cost’
“Every single day they are trying to cross. We heard from our intelligence that the Russian deputy commander told troops in the area that they had to force the river at any cost, though not all the soldiers are willing to do that,” Prokudin said while visiting the UK, as reported by The Guardian.
Appointed directly by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Prokudin explained that Russian troops had been instructed to take control of a village on the western bank to use it as leverage in negotiations.
“The Russians completely understand it is a suicidal mission,” he said. He added that documents recovered from Russian troops showed that some were fresh recruits, while others had been fighting in Ukraine for over two years.
Russia initially took control of most of the Kherson region, spanning both sides of the Dnipro, early in the war. However, in November 2022, its forces were forced to withdraw from the west bank, including the city of Kherson, as maintaining supply lines became unsustainable.
Just weeks before that retreat, Russian President Vladimir Putin unilaterally declared the annexation of the entire region, along with three others, saying that residents there were “our citizens for ever.”
Prokudin said he believes Russia is trying to maintain a presence on the western bank to reinforce its territorial claims. “They are trying to tick a box to show that ‘we are present on the right bank’,” he said, adding that the efforts have increased amid ongoing discussions about a truce.
(With inputs from agencies)
