Ukrainian forces brace for bloody fight for Kherson

Oleh, the commander of a Ukrainian mechanized infantry unit dug into trenches west of Kherson, is confident his Russian foes will be forced to abandon the strategic port by winter weather, logistical logjams and the threat of encirclement.

But neither he nor his men think the Russians will go quickly or quietly and nor do they intend to let them. His comments raise the spectre of a bloody slog in the coming weeks for control of a key city on the west bank of the Dnipro River which acts as a gateway to the peninsula of Crimea annexed by Russia in 2014.

“They will keep fighting. They will defend their positions as long as they have the ability to do so,” said Oleh, 26, a battle-hardened major who has risen through the ranks since enlisting as a teenager 10 years ago. “It will be a hard fight.”

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-installed administration in Kherson region, said on Thursday that he hoped Russian forces would put up a fight.

“If we leave Kherson, it will be a huge blow,” he added, in comments broadcast by Russia’s RT television.

The contest for the only provincial capital seized by Moscow in the full-scale invasion launched on February 24 may be one of the most consequential of the war so far.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, it would be another setback following a series of significant battlefield losses since mid-August.

With control of the Dnipro’s west bank, military experts said, Ukrainian forces would have a springboard from which to seize a bridgehead on the east side for an advance on Crimea.

Crimea is home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet and Kyiv has made the peninsula’s recovery its sworn goal.

Were Kherson to fall in counter-offensive, experts added, it would also be a humiliation for Putin, as Kherson is one of the four occupied regions of Ukraine that he announced would be part of Russia “forever” with great fanfare on September 30.