According to local media, several Russian bases and weapons depots were attacked in Kherson Region using advanced US-supplied HIMARS multiple missile launchers. Ukrainian news website Obozrevatel reports that a Russian base was hit in Chornobaivka, on the outskirts of occupied Kherson. This was confirmed on Facebook by the official “Operation Command South” page of the Ukrainian military, which said the target was hit by “rocket and artillery” fire. Ukrainian troops fire a US-made M777 howitzer from their front-line position in Kharkiv region, Ukraine on August 1, 2022. Ukrainian forces also use HIMARS (not pictured) to strike Russian targets. SERGEY BOBOK/GETTY The video posted on Telegram, which has not been independently verified by Newsweek, reportedly shows Russia’s Chornobaivka base coming under fire. In a separate incident, Ukrainian forces said they hit an ammunition depot in Berislav, further up the Dnipro River from Kherson. According to Obozrevatel the target was successfully destroyed, with multiple secondary explosions as stored ammunition was detonated. The Ukrainians also reported three strikes on Russian “strongholds” in the Berislavsky and Bastansky districts, along with another on an ammunition dump in the same area. Ukrainian forces are laying the groundwork for an operation to liberate Kherson, which was seized by Russian troops in the first days of the war, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying they are making progress “step by step”. Recapturing Kherson would help secure Odessa, Ukraine’s most important Black Sea port and an obvious Russian target. If the entire Kherson region can be recaptured, it would break the land bridge between Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014, and both the Russian-held regions of eastern Ukraine and Russia itself. On Monday, US National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby announced that Washington would provide Ukraine with more missiles for its HIMARS as part of a new $550 million aid package. Ukraine uses US-supplied HIMARS to strike Russian targets far behind the front lines, such as ammunition dumps and command centers. According to retired US Army General Mark Hertling, this has been a “game changer” in the fight against Russian aggression, leaving the Kremlin’s forces “in dire straits”. Ukrainian forces have hit three bridges over the Dnipro using HIMARS, making it harder for the Russians to reinforce their troops in Kherson. These include the critically important Antonovsky Bridge, which has been left “probably unusable”. Russian forces in occupied parts of Kherson Oblast are also facing an insurgency by Ukrainian guerrilla fighters, with sabotage and assassination attempts against some local collaborators. Speaking to the BBC, one partisan explained how his group monitors the movements of Russian troops and then relays the details to the Ukrainian army for artillery strikes. A local administration official stationed in Russia was killed in a car bomb, while several others were injured. Valery Kuleshov, a pro-Russian blogger, was shot and killed in Kherson in April in a suspected rebel attack. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.
