The defense forces “significantly pushed back” the Russian occupiers on the Kinburn Spit in the Kherson region. Head of the Joint Coordinating Press Center of the Defense Forces of the South of Ukraine Natalia Gumenyuk announced this on the air of Espresso.
“We have significantly pressed the enemy on the Kinburn Spit. And although every two days they decide to pull out an artillery mount in order to indicate their presence in the western part of the Kinburn Spit and fire at the Dnieper-Bug estuary in order to hint at control over sea transport routes, nevertheless, the persistent presence of the enemy there is not fixed,” she said.
According to Gumenyuk, the invaders accumulate closer to the mainland “and hide behind the local population of those settlements that are closer to the mainland.”
On March 19, OK Yug reported that Russia had intensified shelling of the Dnieper-Bug estuary, in the direction of Ochakov and the Kutsurub community, which may be due to Ukraine’s desire to expand the Black Sea Grain Initiative to include Nikolaev.
- Ochakov is located opposite the Kinburn Spit, the release of which could allow Ukraine to control exits to a number of ports, increase naval activity and potentially carry out a crossing to the left bank of the Dnieper.
- The Kinburn Spit is located 4 km across the strait from Ochakov, it allows you to control the entrance to the Dnieper, the Southern Bug, the ports of Nikolaev and Kherson.
- The occupiers also used the scythe for rocket and artillery strikes on Ochakovo, the southern part of the Mykolaiv region and Ukrainian-controlled areas near the Black Sea.
