A Ukrainian official says the country's southern region of Kherson will be liberated from Russian occupation in just over a month.
Ukrainian forces have been gradually moving into the Kherson region which was taken over by Russia at the start of the war and an adviser to Kherson's government Serhiy Khlan said the Kyiv army is switching from "defensive to counter-offensive action".
"We can say that the Kherson region will definitely be liberated by September, and all the occupiers' plans will fail," Khlan said in an interview with Ukrainian television.
Kherson was occupied by the Russian army on March 3, with Ukrainian officials believing the troops were able to take the city largely because Ukrainian security services failed to destroy the Antonivskyi bridge that crosses the Dnieper river, allowing troops to enter the city.
However, Ukraine has been using Western-supplied long-range weapons to hit Russian supply lines and ammunition dumps in an effort to turn the tide in the war and prepare a counter-offensive in the Kherson region.
Kyiv forces have struck two key bridges leading to Kherson in an attempt to cut Russia off from supplies.
The strike hit the Daryivskyi bridge across the Ingulets river used for supplies by Russian troops, days after the nearby Antonivskyi Bridge was hit, said an adviser to the region's governor who is on Ukrainian-held territory.
"Every bridge is a weak point for logistics and our armed forces are skilfully destroying the enemy system. This is not yet the liberation of Kherson, but a serious preparatory step in that direction," Khlan wrote on Facebook.
The deputy head of the Russian-installed regional authority said the bridge had been hit by seven rockets from Western-supplied high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), but that the bridge still worked, Russia's TASS news agency said.
Russia has captured swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine since it invaded on Feb 24.
Newshub/Reuters
