Ukraine prepares to retake Crimea which has ‘better and stronger Russian forces’ which ‘would be a big move’

In the coming days we will see if the Ukraine will make a similar push to the south as they have done in the Kharkiv region.

Ukrainian forces have a whole division in the south, one in the northeast of Ukraine and then they have a reserve battalion which could easily be used for a counterattack against Russian troops on the land bridge which is situated between Kherson and the Donbas regions.

Military analyst Michael Clarke said that if the Ukrainian forces do attack the land bridge which unites Russia and Crimea this “would be a big move” which would then” open up a whole new front.”

Read more on Russia-Ukraine war:

Politicians who called for ‘Putin to be sacked’ for ‘’high treason’ are ‘fined’ and dissolution of the district council

Putin’s motorcade attacked with explosives and ‘loud bang sounded from the left front wheel’ with ‘heavy smoke’ seen

Ukraine has Crimea firmly in their cross hairs and Russian officials are ‘secretly trying to sell their homes and urgently evacuating’

Putin could ‘play a nuclear demonstration strike over the Black Sea or perhaps a strike at a Ukrainian military facility’

Professor Clarke, who was director general of RUSI, told Sky News, “They have almost certainly got a reserve division.

“So what will they do with it?

“The question is, how much of this offensive will they continue with. Will they, having taken the whole of Kharkiv, now try to encircle some of these areas that they lost earlier on, particularly Severodonetsk… They might try to do that.

“The other possibility is that if they don’t feel they need to reinforce in the Donbas, will they use their reserve troops – maybe – to push right the way south, split the land bridge that the Russians have got between the Donbas and Kherson – the land bridge that united Russia with Crimea. That would be a big move, to open up a whole new front.

“Down in the southwest, in the Kherson oblast, the Ukrainians have made quite a lot of gains across a broad front – 160km. They are clearly going for Kherson city itself, and Nova Kakhovka, which is a very important place because it’s where the dam is that dams the Dnipro River, that helps feed water to Crimea, as well as hydroelectric power.

“They are pushing across this broad front – of particular interest is Tomyna Balka, because in taking the area around Tomyna Balka they can get round the back of Russian forces in Kherson… and at Snihurivka, they produced a big salient to try to push to Nova Kakovka.

“They are the better Russian forces, the stronger ones, but they are under great pressure now and reportedly are, certainly in the north, are beginning to run out of ammunition, so we’ll see what happens there in the coming days.”