How Ukraine can succeed in southern Kherson Oblast — interview
Ukrainian forces have been active on the left bank of the Dnipro River for over a month and have even gained a foothold around the village of Krynky.
On Nov. 13, Russian state news agency TASS, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, announced a redeployment of their troops on the left bank of Kherson Oblast "to more advantageous positions." However, the message was later deleted.
NV Radio spoke to former spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladyslav Seleznyov on whether the occupiers could actually be preparing to withdraw troops from the area:
“I don't think this is a matter of the enemy moving troops. Why? This question lies in the mathematical definition.
The enemy has concentrated about 65,000 personnel in the south of Kherson Oblast, namely units of the newly created 18th Army, which was built from elements of the 22nd Army Corps, which is stationed in occupied Crimea.
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So: 65,000 men, plus artillery, aviation, armored vehicles, including tanks.
What do the Armed Forces of Ukraine [AFU] have on the left bank?
Maybe a thousand Marines, maybe a little more. And though they fight like lions; and each of them is worth, perhaps, even 10 Russian soldiers, the numbers are nevertheless not comparable.
Under these conditions, I think it is not worth hoping that the enemy will run away from a thousand Ukrainian marines.
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Therefore, I think that this statement was most likely a component of an information and psychological operation. Who is behind the scenes of this psyop? I don't know for sure. I do not rule out that perhaps our specialists were involved.
But (and this ‘but’ is key, in my opinion), the successful advance of the AFU on the left bank of the Dnipro in terms of increasing our bridgeheads directly depends on resource capabilities. And these are obvious to me.
Firstly, an increase not only in the number of personnel, but also an increase in armaments, in particular artillery, and ammunition for those armaments is key. Armored vehicles are also needed there.
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How can all this be moved across the river? For me, the answer is clear: we need a pontoon bridge crossing.
But how can this pontoon-bridge crossing be built, given that the distance between the shores there is about a thousand meters?... Moreover, this crossing will be in the range of enemy aviation and artillery. The enemy will hunt it.
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Therefore, this is a question that our commanders in charge of this front need to solve now. We know that the Marine Corps under Lt. General Yuriy Sodol is fighting there.
These tasks are extremely difficult, but very important. In order to continue to develop the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive in southern Kherson Oblast, constant and uninterrupted connection between the two banks of the Dnipro River needs to be established.
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