Amid Ukraine warnings that Moscow is preparing a new wave of attacks on energy plants, Russian forces are strengthening their defenses in southern Ukraine after retreating from the city of Kherson.
Since being ordered withdraw from Kherson Earlier this month, Russian troops dug trenches and erected fences against the possibility of a new Ukrainian attack to the east and south of the city, a gateway to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.
But the Kremlin, perhaps still sore from the bitter defeats, on Monday dismissed widespread speculation that its forces could soon give up another bounty in southern Ukraine. nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia which it seized shortly after the invasion in February.
President Vladimir V. Putin’s spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov said: “One should not look for signs that do not and cannot have any.
Warning from Ukrainian official that Russia is preparing to carry out new attacks on energy infrastructure comes even as utility teams, Struggling in falling temperaturesworking to restore power supply devastated by recent bombardment.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command, said on Monday that Ukraine had received intelligence reports indicating that new attacks could take place this week, possibly this week. using a missile launched from a Russian naval ship in the Black Sea.
President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ukrainians that next week could again be difficult. “As long as they have missiles, they won’t stop,” he said in his nightly address late Sunday.
But Mr Zelensky said that by working together, Ukrainians would overcome “Russia’s attempt to use the cold against the people”.
On Monday, a group of foreign ministers from seven Baltic and Nordic countries visited Kyiv to discuss the threat to Ukraine’s ravaged energy infrastructure ahead of winter. Representatives of Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Finland and Norway met Mr. Zelensky in the Ukrainian capital and mentioned humanitarian and military aid, sanctions against Russia and efforts to become a membership of Ukraine in the European Union.
The warning about new infrastructure attacks comes as the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, said. a report on Sunday, satellite images showed Russian forces were prioritizing digging trenches and building so-called dragon-tooth anti-tank defenses on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, opposite the city of Kherson.
“Russian defensive positions show that the Russian military leadership considers the prospect of a Ukrainian attack across the Dnipro River as a serious threat,” the institute said. The group made no predictions as to whether Ukrainian forces would actually attempt such a border crossing.
Western military analysts have speculated that instead of seeking to cross the dangerous river near Kherson, the Ukrainian military could launch a fresh offensive starting upstream, where they already control land on the shore. East of Dnipro.
The rivers of Ukraine proved a formidable obstacle for both sides of the conflict, with efforts to overcome them often placing militaries in vulnerable positions. Analysts say that any concerted effort by Ukrainian forces to break through the Dnipro will most likely involve thorough preparation.
Ukrainian authorities have refused to provide details of military operations in the south since the recapture of Kherson. Ms. Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military, said on Monday that an operation to gain control Kinburn Spita peninsula at the mouth of the Dnipro River, taking place.
“This is very hard work,” she said on national television, citing increasingly severe weather conditions as winter approaches, as well as the peninsula’s location.
Even before Kherson was lost, Russia had begun building a series of defensive positions east of the Kherson region, the Institute for the Study of War report said. By November 15 – four days after Ukrainian forces won the city – satellite images showed trenches and concrete anti-tank defenses, pyramid-shaped concrete blocks lined up goods, the report said.
It said Russian forces appeared to be trying to secure vital logistics routes.
Like account of Russian atrocities in occupied Kherson continued to appear, officials in suburban Kherson on Monday unearthed a common grave and The remains of six Ukrainians were found. Three had their hands tied with ropes, and two had bullet holes in the back of their skulls.
And near Izium, the northeastern city where hundreds of bodies were found In a forest, the ex-wife of a Ukrainian writer who disappeared during the Russian occupation said on Monday that he too had been found dead. Volodymyr Vakulenko has not been seen since late March, according to the free speech group PEN America. He and his son, Vitaly, disappeared from their home in Kapytolivka, a village near Izium, the group said.
Peskov’s insistence on Monday that Moscow would not give up Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, appeared to be motivated by pro-Russian military bloggers who suggested that Russian forces would withdraw from the zone. area. Ukrainian officials also said there were indications that Russia was taking steps to leave the facility.
Earlier in the day, Petro Kotin, president of Ukraine’s national nuclear energy company, Energoatom, said there were signs that the Russian military was “packing up and stealing whatever they can find.” at the Zaporizhzhia complex, although he stressed that there was no evidence. that the army had actually begun to withdraw.
Despite the recent successes of Ukrainian forces, military analysts say there are no immediate signs that they are threatening Russia’s control of the plant located on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. , about 160 km northeast of Kherson.
Reports from Russian military bloggers, a belligerent and pro-invasion groups — possibly an attempt to “prepare the information space for a final Russian withdrawal” from Zaporizhzhia, the Institute for the Study of War said in its report. Daily analysis on Sunday.
Eric Nagourney and Carly Olson contribution report.
