Zelensky: Kyiv 'will get everything back in the end'

Ukrainian counterattack in the south and "violent battles" around Kherson

Municipal workers clean up rubble on the roof of a destroyed building after the bombing of the city center of Kharkiv.

EPA

"Violent battles" took place yesterday in southern Ukraine, where Kyiv forces launched a counter-attack, hoping to recapture the city of Kherson from the grip of the Russians, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asserted that Ukraine is regaining what it has, and will regain everything in the end.

The Ukrainian presidency said in its morning press briefing, yesterday, "Violent explosions were recorded throughout yesterday (Monday) and throughout the night in the Kherson region.

Violent battles are taking place in most parts of the region.

"Ukrainian armed forces launched attacks in several directions," it added, confirming the destruction of "a number of ammunition depots" and "all the major bridges" that allow vehicles to cross the Dnieper River.

The Ukrainian authorities announced, on Monday, that they are launching a counter-attack in this region in the south of the country, which Russia has controlled since the beginning of the conflict last February, to regain control of the city of Kherson, which had a population of 280,000 people before the start of the conflict.

This region is vital to Ukrainian agriculture, as well as strategic, because it is located on the border with Crimea, which Moscow annexed in March 2014, and is used as a rear base for the war on Ukraine.

Deputy Sergey Khelan spoke on Ukrainian television about "focused artillery shelling on enemy positions in the entire territory of the Kherson region" at the gates of the Crimea.

Russia, for its part, said it had repulsed Ukrainian "attempts to attack" in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions in southern Ukraine.

"During the day, the Ukrainian forces launched an attack attempt in three directions in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions," the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that it "failed miserably."

She declared that the Ukrainians had suffered "heavy losses".

The Southern Command of the Ukrainian army said that the Russians bombed Mykolaev, the day before yesterday, with 16 "S-300" missiles, causing "serious" damage, especially in residential buildings and transportation facilities.

Two civilians were killed and 24 wounded, according to this source.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in his daily speech, "Ukraine gets what it has and will eventually get everything back: Kharkiv, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Crimea, the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov."

The Russian bombardment continued along the front line from north to south.

In the center of Kharkiv, the second city in the northeast of the country, at least five people were killed in Russian bombing, according to what the mayor and the region's governor announced yesterday.

The governor of the Zaporizhia region in the south of the country, Oleksandr Starukh, said at dawn yesterday that Russia had launched a missile attack on the city of the same name.

"Initial information indicates that there were no casualties," he said.

No major damage was recorded in the facilities.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, led by its Director-General Rafael Grossi, are expected to arrive "later in the week" to inspect the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, which was controlled by the Russians in early March, and its situation raises great tension.

For its part, the Ukrainian energy company Energoatom indicated that the Russian forces were "preparing for the arrival of the International Atomic Energy Agency mission, by pressuring the workers at the station, to prevent them from revealing evidence of Russia's crimes at the station."

The municipality of Zaporizhia said that since August 23 it has been distributing iodine pills to the population in an area of ​​50 km radius around the station, which should be taken in the event of a radiation leak alert.

With the approach of autumn, another step was taken towards reducing Russian gas shipments to France, yesterday, with the announcement by the Engy Group of an additional reduction in the deliveries of the giant Gazprom "due to a dispute between the two parties over the implementation of contracts."

On the other hand, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed yesterday that government measures to ensure gas supplies during the winter made Germany ready to deal with a new reduction in Russian shipments, a day before Moscow cut off gas supplies for three days via the Nord Stream pipeline.

Russia has reduced gas shipments to France "due to a dispute over the implementation of contracts."

The Russian army announced that the Ukrainians had suffered "heavy losses".

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