Today, Thursday, British intelligence revealed new data about the Ukrainian counter-attack to retake Kherson, which is controlled by Russia in the south of the country, while a senior Russian official published a map showing new borders for Ukraine.
British military intelligence described the Russian army battalion stationed on the western bank of the Dnipro River as apparently very weak, adding that Kherson was "virtually isolated from other territories occupied by Russia".
"It is highly likely that the Ukrainian forces have built a bridge south of the Lingolits River, which forms the northern border of Kherson," it said in a circular on Twitter.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country's forces will do everything possible not to enable the Russian army to have any logistical opportunities on the ground, and that they will work to break its plans, as happened in Kherson yesterday.
Zelensky's speech came in reference to the Ukrainian bombing that targeted the Antonov bridge in the southern province, which the Ukrainians consider a major supply line to the Russians.
"Regarding the Antonov Bridge and other crossings there, they were bombed by our forces, of course they will all be rebuilt, but by us," the Ukrainian president said, adding, "We are doing everything possible to ensure that the occupiers do not get any logistical opportunities on our land."
He stressed that his country's forces "will liberate our lands by military and diplomatic means and all other available tools until we reach the legal borders of Ukraine."
Field developments
In another field development, a Ukrainian official said that Russia bombed an infrastructure site in Kyiv on Thursday morning.
And the newspaper "Kyiv Independent" quoted the governor of the Kyiv region, Oleksiy Kuleba, that Russia bombed an infrastructure site in a local community in the Vychhorodsky district, north of the capital.
In an appeal issued today by the Ukrainian government, Kyiv called on civilians to "leave the Donbass region immediately after the Russian army made progress on some fronts."
In the opposite camp, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the elimination of more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers in air strikes in the Artemovsk and Kherson regions.
The ministry added that its forces destroyed 6 ammunition depots for the Ukrainian forces in separate areas in Donetsk and Mykolaiv to the east.
Video of Russian Su-25 attack aircraft in the Avdiivka area. https://t.co/1XRGgiTsr3 pic.twitter.com/7MdxFK3VtT
— Rob Lee (@RALee85) July 28, 2022
"Invasion" of other cities
In the context, the leader of the pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Donetsk region, called on Russia to invade cities covering almost all of Ukraine.
"Today is the time to liberate the Russian cities founded by the Russians, Kyiv, Chernigiev, Poltava, Odessa, Dnipro, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Lutsk," Denis Pushilin said on Telegram.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied the reality of the existence of a Ukrainian state, saying that it was artificially separated from Russia.
He said that he did not intend to occupy his neighbour, but that the authorities installed by Moscow in southern Ukraine were publicly preparing to hold a referendum on joining Russia.
The authorities of the Kherson region confirmed earlier that holding a referendum on self-determination in the region on the issue of its accession to Russia is irreversible, while the administration of the neighboring Zaporozhye province began preparations for a similar referendum on the accession of the province to Russia.
Medvedev's statements
In statements that may confirm the West's fears, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev conveyed the expectations of Western analysts that the territory of the Ukrainian state will shrink to the borders of the Kyiv province.
Medvedev published two maps of Ukraine, the first of which shows the territory of the Ukrainian state, including the lands of Donbass and the Crimea, while the area on the second map shrinks to the borders of the Kyiv province.
In the same context, the head of the Constitutional Legislation Committee of the Russian Federation Council, Senator Andrei Klishas, said that his country's parliament may consider, during its next autumn session, the accession of new regions to Russia.