Ukraine says over 40 settlements retaken in key Kherson region

By AFP 1 August 2022, 4:12 pm

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A couple walks past a graffiti on a wall depicting a Ukrainian serviceman making a shot with a US-made Javelin portable anti-tank missile system, in Kyiv, on July 29, 2022. (Sergei SUPINSKY / AFP)

Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 40 settlements in the key southern region of Kherson, as Kyiv looks to drive back Russian troops in a counteroffensive, the local governor says.

Moscow seized almost all the territory of the economically and strategically important region bordering the annexed Crimea peninsula during the first days of its invasion which began on February 24.

But in recent weeks the Ukrainian army, bolstered by deliveries of Western-supplied long-range artillery, have sought to stage a counteroffensive in the area.

Kyiv’s forces have been carrying out strikes on Russian military warehouses and positions behind the front line and hit bridges acting as crucial supply routes for Moscow’s troops in the city of Kherson.