Ukraine: the army denies having lost its bridgehead on the occupied bank of the Dnieper
This Wednesday, February 21, the Ukrainian army denied having lost control of its Krynky bridgehead on the occupied bank of the Dnieper, in the south of the country, and which Russian President Vladimir Putin had claimed the capture the day before.
Near the Avdiïvka front, fighting rages between Russian and Ukrainian troops, February 11, 2024 (illustrative photo). © AFP/Genya Savilov
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“
The military and political leadership of the aggressor country announced the capture of the bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnieper River. We officially say that this information is false
,” the Southern Command of the Ukrainian forces said
on social media
.
The defense forces of southern
Ukraine
continue to hold their positions, inflicting significant losses on the enemy
,” he added.
The day before, Vladimir Putin and his Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, had claimed to have regained control of the village of Krynky, where the Ukrainian army managed to establish positions during the summer of 2023 in particularly difficult conditions, in particular due to the presence of swamps and the crossing of the river under fire. The Russians massively bombed the area and Krynky was completely destroyed, according to images regularly broadcast by forces on both sides.
Russian claim
This bridgehead was one of the few successes of Ukraine's summer counter-offensive. But it never allowed kyiv's forces to advance south. The Russian claim for the capture of Krynky was presented by President Putin as a second success in a row,
after the capture a few days earlier of Avdiïvka
, a fortress town in eastern Ukraine. Available images and information suggest that Ukrainian forces maintain a "limited" beachhead in the area, according to the US Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
The Ukrainian army faces multiple Russian assaults on both the eastern and southern fronts, and suffers under bombardment. It is also experiencing a shortage of artillery ammunition due to Western aid which is drying up, in particular that from the United States which is blocked by the Republican rivals of President Joe Biden.
Russia suffered significant losses according to kyiv, but had more men and superior weapons after having turned its economy towards the war effort. While February 24 will mark
the second anniversary of the outbreak of the Russian invasion
, Ukraine finds itself in an "extremely difficult" position on the battlefields, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky's own admission.
(With
AFP
)
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