Ukraine's Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk on April 23 asked for "patience" on reports of a possible Ukrainian advance on the east bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast.
Humeniuk's comments come a day after the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think-tank analyzing the war in Ukraine, confirmed that Ukraine had taken new positions on the east bank.
Emphasizing that "a very difficult work" continues in the country's south, Humeniuk said she could not confirm or reject the ISW's report since "the conditions of a military operation require silence until it is safe enough for our military."
On April 22, the ISW said it had seen reliable geolocated footage of Ukrainian positions on the east bank for the first time, and Ukraine appears to have made some advance in the largely stalled battlefield in Kherson Oblast.
The ISW said "Ukrainian forces have established positions on the Dnipro River bank north of Oleshky (7 kilometers southwest of Kherson City) and advanced up to the northern outskirts of the settlement on the E97 highway, as well as west of Dachi (10 kilometers south of Kherson City)."
"This footage also indicates that Russian forces may not control islands in the Kinka and Chaika rivers less than half a kilometer north of the geolocated Ukrainian positions near the Antonivsky Bridge," it added.
According to the ISW, Russian military bloggers have also admitted that "Ukrainian forces have maintained positions in east bank Kherson Oblast for weeks, established stable supply lines to these positions, and regularly conduct sorties in the area." The think-tank says this could indicate "a lack of Russian control over the area."
The reports of a possible Ukrainian advance in the south come nearly half a year after Ukraine liberated Kherson and the west bank of the Dnipro River in the fall of 2022. The retreating Russian troops have fled to the east bank.
Asami Terajima
