Next Move : Over to You, Russia

A view shows a power substation destroyed by a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

"The information is tense, let's put it that way, because, yes there were indeed breakthroughs."

"There's a settlement called Dudehany, right along the Dnipro River, and right there, in that region, there was a breakthrough."

"There are settlements that are occupied by Ukrainian forces."

Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed Kherson province leader

"It means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro nearer to Beryslav."

"The fact we have broken through the front means that ... the Russian army has already lost the ability to attack, and today or tomorrow it could lose the ability to defend."

Oleh Zhdanov, military analyst, Kyiv

Ukrainians ride an armoured vehicle, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donesk region, Ukraine, October 3 2022. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

The biggest breakthrough since the war began in the south of Ukraine saw Ukrainian forces bursting through the front, rapidly advancing along the Dnipro River Monday, in the process and the prospect of completely routing Russian forces overall, threatening supply lines for thousands of Russian troops. The reality is so blatant, Russian sources acknowledged a Ukrainian tank offensive advancing dozens of kilometres along the west bank of the river, while along the way recapturing a number of villages.

 

Ukrainian successes on the battlefield in the east have turned the tide in the counteroffensive against the Russian invasion in the very face of Moscow attempting to make itself appear the conqueror through territorial annexation, ordering troop mobilization and finally, taking the most desperate course that a defeated, demoralized army could move toward, eschewing a conventional war with conventional weapons, to elevate the potential for nuclear retaliation.

 

The newly recaptured town of Dudchany is located about 30 km south of where the front stood so recently, before the breakthrough saw the Russian military withdraw in haste. The Ukrainian strategy represents the swiftest advance of the war in the south to date, where Russian forces had until then, been securely dug into heavily reinforced positions along a front that has been static since February's invasion. 

 

Lyudmiyla, 64, who sheltered for weeks in the basement of the Lavra monastery complex that belongs to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, with scores of other Ukrainians during fierce battles between Russian troops and Ukrainian forces reacts while she speaks to journalist outside the church in Svyatohirsk, in Donetsk region, Ukraine, October 3, 2022. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

A photo of Ukrainian soldiers posing with the national flag draping a statue of an angel was posted by Anton Geraschenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior ministry. The photo, he explained, was of the village of Mikhailivka, some 20 km beyond the previous front. A village close to the previous front line, Myrolyubivka was confirmed retaken by the Ukrainian defence ministry, while Serhiy Khlan, a regional council member in Kherson listed other villages that were liberated from Russian possession as well, where the presence of Ukrainian troops had been photographed. 

 

While the Ukrainian government remains circumspect in its revelations of retaken ground and the liberation of one village after another, the advance in the south is a reflection of the tactics employed bringing Kyiv major gains since September in eastern Ukraine where forces there seized territory to gain control of Russian supply lines, effectively cutting off larger Russian forces, while forcing their hurried retreat. 

Newly-mobilised reservists take part in a training on a range in Rostov region, Russia October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov