Ukraine has warned Russian troops to “run home or die” after smashing through key battle lines in a few hours under a devastating counter-offensive.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told Moscow’s soldiers the new mission by Kyiv will drive them all the way back to the Russian border.
Zelensky said: “If they want to survive - it’s time for the Russian military to run away. Go home.
“Ukraine is taking back its own land.”
Heavy fighting has broken out around occupied Kherson in the south, with Ukraine’s troops breaking through Russian defences in several sectors.
Russia captured the key region early in the invasion but Ukraine is launching devastating strikes with Western-supplied missiles to batter Russian positions.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser, said Russian defences in the Kherson region had been “broken through in a few hours.”
Ukrainian troops were also calling in artillery strikes on ferries that were being used to resupply Russian forces across the Dnipro River, threatening to cut them off.
The attack comes after weeks of Ukrainian operations which have destroyed more than 20 huge ammunition and weapons dumps used by the Russians,
Battles raged across the entire southern front and Ukraine was stepping up its artillery barrages after weeks of preparation Vitaly Kim, governor of the Mykolaiv region, told Ukrainian TV: “Heavy fighting is going on. Our military is working around the clock. Liberation of the Kherson region is coming soon.”
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 to wage what it said was a “special military operation” to rid the country of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities.
Ukraine and its allies, including Britain hold this to be a false narrative as it is an unprovoked war of aggression.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in central southern Ukraine, captured by Russian troops in March but still manned by Ukrainian staff, has been a hotspot in the conflict, with both sides trading blame for shelling in the vicinity.
A mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is heading to the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, and is due later this week to inspect and assess any damage.
'Tide may beturning as Kyiv targets supply lines'
- Analysis, by Chris Hughes
One of Russia’s biggest vulnerabilities has been its supply lines and the possibility of being cut off without reinforcements.
For weeks, Ukraine has been dismantling these lines, obliterating ammo stores, even deep inside Crimea. In one week, 10 big dumps were blown up.
This, coupled with the assassinations of collaborators and Russian-installed officials in guerilla attacks, has dented the morale of Moscow’s forces.
British and German-supplied rocket systems and US-donated artillery have targeted four bridges which could be used to reinforce troops in Kherson.
Denting Russian morale, weakening supply lines and blowing up bridges have all been preparation for this offensive.
We may be seeing the tide turn as Ukraine has timed the counter-offensive to retake swathes of the south and protect access to the Black Sea.
In the weeks before the invasion we visited Ukrainian troops in the trenches in Donbas and they made no secret of their intention. One officer said: “We will fight, maybe have to let them in, flank them, destroy their supply lines and then kill them.”
It is early in the counter-offensive but Kyiv’s military has proved repeatedly it has tactical superiority and its troops are motivated.
