Why the Battle For Ukraine's Dnipro River Islands Near Kherson Is Important

The immediate objective is to reduce shelling of Kherson which has continued since Ukrainian troops forced Russia to retreat from it last fall.

But the longer term strategic objective is help outflank Russian troops on the Dnipro's left bank in order for Ukrainian forces to press their counter offensive to reclaim more territory. JL 

Howard Altman reports in The Drive:

For the past two months, as larger and deadlier clashes take place to the east, Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought for control of islands in the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson. Russia has been lobbying artillery and mortar fire on Kherson ever since evacuating. In response, Ukrainian forces have been attempting “small naval operations”  to “establish control and push back Russian 122mm and 152mm artillery from the left bank. ”Ukraine will continue trying to wrest control of the Dnipro River islands, to reduce fire and fix Russian forces ahead of any wider maneuver operations by either further to the east.

The creeping Russian advances in the Donbas have overshadowed an ongoing battle in territory that Ukraine has secured. For the past two months, as larger and deadlier clashes take place to the east, Ukrainian and Russian forces have fought for control of islands in the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson, which Ukraine captured in November.

Russia has been lobbying artillery and mortar fire on Kherson ever since evacuating. In response, Ukrainian forces have been attempting “small naval operations” on some of those islands to “establish control and push back Russian 122mm and 152mm artillery from the left bank,” a Ukrainian military advisor told The War Zone on Tuesday.

In addition, Russians have been launching sabotage raids from those islands, using smaller mortars to attack Kherson, Andrii Ryzhenko, a retired Ukrainian Navy captain and military expert, told The War Zone on Tuesday.

Over the past 24 hours, the city was hit by Russian fire seven times and the region 54 times in total, Kherson Oblast Administration Adviser Sergey Khlan said Tuesday on his Facebook page. “Fortunately, there were no casualties. But the invaders are knowingly destroying housing and critical infrastructure to avoid the possibility of extinguishing fires or providing medical care to the wounded.”

Previous attacks have hit a local hospital, wounding a nurse.

 

Ukrainian troops tried another such island attack on Tuesday, according to Russian military bloggers and official Russian state media. While the details may differ, those accounts fit with what we are hearing from Ukrainian sources about the islands being hotly contested.

“At about 9 am on Jan. 31, 2023, the enemy landed on our bank of the [Dnipro] in three boats and entrenched themselves in the nearest houses,” the pro-Russian “Two Majors” Telegram channel reported Tuesday. “Our rocket and cannon artillery is working on the enemy right now, the area has been shot.” 

Russian gunners "fixed" the area “for an hour and a half,” according to the Two Majors.

 

“Previously, the enemy had already tried to land three times,” Two Majors reported. “Forces up to the company tactical group were involved. The enemy has failed.”

Ukrainian troops “tried to [forge] the [Dnipro] in the Kherson region,” the official Russian RIA Novosti news agency reported Tuesday, citing regional authorities. “The attempt was repulsed.”

The Ukrainian military advisor, who acknowledge that another island attempt may have taken place, called the river islands “a gray zone” where neither side has established control.

 

Ryzhenko told The War Zone that Ukrainian troops have also conducted small cross-river sabotage operations on Russian military operations and returned. On Jan. 24, for instance, the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence directorate (GUR) claimed it carried out one such night raid "with the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine... in the area of Novaya Kakhovka," upstream from Kherson City.

But a large-scale Ukrainian river crossing, using pontoon bridges, “is impossible” right now due to the ongoing Russian shelling,” said the advisor. The Russians, you might remember, came under tremendous fire trying to get across the river back in the fall.

 

“Do you want to be the driver of a tank crossing a huge river on a temporary bridge on barges?” the Ukrainian military advisor asked rhetorically. “Everything is shaking. The Russians are trying to shoot you with artillery. And how fast can you get one brigade from the right bank to the left bank over a temporary bridge? It’s impossible.”

Maybe so, but Ukraine will almost certainly continue trying to wrest control of the Dnipro River islands, to reduce fire and fix Russian forces ahead of any wider maneuver operations by either further to the east.