Ukraine says scores of Russians killed in Kherson fighting
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[July 30, 2022]
By Max Hunder and Pavel Polityuk
ODESA/KYIV, Ukraine (Reuters) -The
Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had killed scores of Russian
soldiers and destroyed two ammunition dumps in fighting in the Kherson
region, the focus of Kyiv's counter-offensive in the south and a key
link in Moscow's supply lines.
Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the
military's southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian
forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.
Defence and intelligence officials from Britain, which has been one of
Ukraine's staunchest allies in the West since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion,
portrayed Russian forces as struggling to maintain momentum.
Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly
damage three bridges across the Dnipro in recent weeks, cutting off
Kherson city and - in the assessment of British defence officials -
leaving Russia's 49th Army stationed on the west bank of the river
highly vulnerable.
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Ukraine's southern command said more than 100 Russian soldiers and seven
tanks had been destroyed in fighting on Friday in the southern regions
of Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa.
The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky,
told residents to stay from away from Russian ammunition dumps.
"The Ukrainian army is pouring it on against the Russians and this is
only the beginning," Sobolevsky wrote on the Telegram app.
The pro-Ukrainian governor of Kherson region, Dmytro Butriy, said
Berislav district was particularly hard hit. Berislav is across the
river northwest of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.
"In some villages, not a single home has been left intact, all
infrastructure has been destroyed, people are living in cellars," Butriy
wrote on Telegram.
Reuters could not independently verify the reports.
Officials from the Russian-appointed administration running the Kherson
region earlier this week rejected Western and Ukrainian assessments of
the situation.
In an intelligence update on Saturday, Britain's defence ministry said
Russia had likely established two pontoon bridges and a ferry system to
compensate for bridges damaged in Ukrainian strikes.
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Russian-installed authorities in occupied territories in southern
Ukraine were possibly preparing to hold referendums on joining Russia
later this year, and were "likely coercing the population into
disclosing personal details in order to compose voting registers," it
added.
On Friday the ministry described the Russian government as "growing
desperate", having lost tens of thousands of soldiers in the war. The
chief of Britain's MI6 foreign intelligence agency, Richard Moore, added
on Twitter that Russia is "running out of steam".
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![](../images/073022PIX/news_s81.jpg)
Service members of pro-Russian troops drive tanks in the course of
Ukraine-Russia conflict near the settlement of Olenivka in the
Donetsk region, Ukraine July 29, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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PRISON DEATHS
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over a missile strike or
explosion that appeared to have killed dozens of Ukrainian prisoners
of war in eastern Donetsk province. The incident took place early on
Friday in the frontline town of Olenivka held by Moscow-backed
separatists.
Russia's defence ministry on Saturday published a list of Ukrainian
prisoners of war who it said were killed and wounded in what it said
was a missile strike by the Ukrainian military. It said the strike
by U.S.-made HIMARS rockets had killed 50 prisoners and injured
another 73.
Ukraine's armed forces denied responsibility, saying Russian
artillery had targeted the prison to hide the mistreatment of those
held there. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Friday Russia had
committed a war crime and called for international condemnation.
Reuters could not immediately verify the differing versions of
events, but some of the deaths were confirmed by Reuters journalists
at the prison.
Russian defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said on
Saturday that "all political, criminal and moral responsibility for
the bloody massacre against Ukrainians falls on (Ukrainian President
Volodymyr) Zelenskiy, his criminal regime and Washington who
supports them".
A charity linked to Ukraine's Azov regiment said on Telegram it was
not immediately able to confirm or deny the authenticity of the
Russian list of people killed and wounded
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Reuters TV on Friday showed the remains of a cavernous burned-out
building filled with metal beds, some with charred bodies lying on
them while other bodies were lined up on military stretchers or on
the ground outside.
Shell fragments had been laid out on a blue metal bench. It was not
immediately possible to detect any identifying markings and it was
not clear where the fragments had been collected.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was seeking
access to the site and had offered to help evacuate the wounded.
Ukraine has accused Russia of atrocities and brutality against
civilians since its invasion and said it has identified more than
10,000 possible war crimes. Russia denies targeting civilians.
(Reporting by Reuters bureausWriting by Jacob
Gronholt-PedersenEditing by Lincoln Feast, William Mallard and
Frances Kerry)
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