Ukrainian and Russian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast waterway in the southern Kherson region for more than a year, after Russia withdrew its troops from the western bank last November.
Ukrainian forces have staged multiple attempts to cross and hold positions on the Russian-controlled side -- with officials in Kyiv finally reporting a "successful" breakthrough last week.
"Preliminary figures vary from three to eight kilometres, depending on the specifics, geography and landscape design of the left bank," army spokeswoman Natalia Gumenyuk told Ukrainian television Sunday, without specifying whether Ukraine's military had complete control of the area or if the Russians had retreated.
"The enemy still continues artillery fire on the right bank," she said, estimating that "several tens of thousands" of Russian troops are in the area.
"We have a lot of work to do," she added.
It comes after Kyiv's much-awaited counteroffensive launched last June had largely fizzled, with Ukraine retaking just a handful of villages in the south and east.
The last significant success claimed by Kyiv was the retaking in August of the village of Robotyne in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
A bridgehead on the left bank of the Dnipro could allow a deeper offensive in the south, though it would require deploying more men and armour into the challenging marshy region.
Pushing Russian troops back would also offer protection to Ukrainian towns and villages on the river's western shores that have faced constant shelling over the past year, Ukrainian officials say.
- Drone attacks -
A Russian artillery attack on the city of Kherson injured five people on Sunday, including a three-year-old child, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said.
Russia's defence ministry said Friday it had thwarted an attempt by Ukrainian troops to land on unspecified islands in the river, days after a Russian-installed official in the occupied Kherson region conceded that Ukraine had managed to hold positions in the village of Krynky on river's eastern shores.
Russia did not comment on the situation on the eastern bank in a daily military briefing on Sunday.
AFP has not able to independently confirm the claims made by officials.
Meanwhile, drone attacks, a defining characteristic of the war, have intensified this week.
Both of the capitals, Kyiv and Moscow, were targeted Saturday night, though both sides claimed to have intercepted most of the attacks and no victims were reported.
Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow were particularly frequent in the spring, ahead of the launch of its counteroffensive in June, but they have been rare in recent weeks.
Kyiv was also targeted for a second night by a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones packed with explosives that were launched by Russian forces, local authorities said.
Russia's defence ministry said its drone attacks hit a fuel depot in Ukraine's central Kirovograd region and an ammunition warehouse near the capital Kyiv.
Ukraine said it shot down 15 of 20 Russian drones, while Russia claimed to have destroyed 31 Ukrainian drones.
- 'Mobile groups' -
Oleksiy Kuleba, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky's office said Sunday Kyiv was boosting the number of "mobile groups" that could "combat" the wave of Russian drone attacks.
A day earlier, the Ukrainian air force said it had shot down 29 of 38 Shahed drones launched by Russian forces across the country -- the most drones launched by Moscow in an overnight attack since late September.
Saturday night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he expected Russia to increase its attacks on Ukraine's energy system to paralyse the country's heat and power supply.
"The closer we get to winter, the more Russian attempts will be made to make the strikes more powerful," he said in his daily address, calling on his army to be "100 percent effective, despite all the difficulties, despite all the fatigue".
On the diplomatic front, Russia's Vesti TV announced that President Vladimir Putin will take part in a virtual G20 leaders' summit on Wednesday, after skipping the flagship in-person meeting in New Delhi in September.
Putin has taken few trips outside Russia since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader over the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.
The G20 comprises 19 of the world's largest economies plus the European Union and the African Union.
Ukraine claims successes in 'heavy fighting' on Russian-held side of Dnipro river
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) Nov 17, 2023 - Ukraine said Friday it had carried out successful attacks on the Russian-occupied eastern bank of the Dnipro river, days after Moscow admitted Kyiv's forces had gained a foothold there.
A sustained Ukrainian breakthrough across the frontline waterway would mark a significant success for Kyiv, whose wider counteroffensive has so far failed to turn the tide of the 21-month war.
"The Defence Forces of Ukraine conducted a series of successful operations on the left bank of the Dnipro River, along the Kherson front," Ukraine's Marine Corps said in a statement on social media.
Kyiv said its forces had "managed to gain a foothold on several bridgeheads."
In a follow-up statement it added: "heavy fighting continues."
The rival armies have been entrenched on opposite sides of the Dnipro since Russia withdrew from the western part of Kherson region last November, in an embarrassing setback for the Kremlin.
That was the last major territorial change in the conflict, with both sides having since failed to make progress despite multiple offensives.
Russia's defence ministry later appeared to reject Kyiv's claims of a breakthrough.
"The enemy (is) on the right (western) bank of the Dnipro," the ministry said in a statement, adding that it had thwarted Ukrainian attempts to land on unspecified islands.
Both sides said they had inflicted heavy losses on the other -- claims AFP could not verify.
- Non-stop shelling -
Since their withdrawal, Russian forces have continuously shelled Ukrainian towns and villages across the river, forcing civilian evacuations.
The governor of Kherson region said early Friday that one person was killed in the latest Russian shelling, following at least three deaths the day before.
Earlier this week, the Russian-installed official responsible for occupied Kherson conceded for the first time that some Ukrainian units had crossed the Dnipro and established positions on the eastern bank.
He said Kyiv's troops were "blocked" in Krynky, a small village on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river, and were facing a "fiery hell" from Russian artillery, rockets and drones.
The official, Vladimir Saldo, said Ukraine had only been able to cross the river by "throwing meat" -- a euphemism for military assaults that involve huge numbers of manpower and encounter heavy losses.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday posted photos on social media of what he said were Ukrainian soldiers on the Dnipro's eastern bank. They showed a handful of soldiers crossing a river in a small boat and disembarking.
Kyiv hopes the foothold will open up the possibility for a more sustained offensive in the south and towards the annexed Crimean peninsula.
But Russia's Saldo said boggy, swamp-like terrain, combined with Russia's superior manpower and supplies give them a significant upper hand.
The battle comes two weeks after Ukraine's top commander said the war had ground to a "stalemate" -- an assessment rejected by both Zelensky and the Kremlin.
Also on Friday, Russia's defence ministry said its troops fighting further to the east on the "southern Donetsk front" had "taken up more favourable positions" -- language previously used by Russia when announcing retreats and withdrawals. The ministry did not give further details however.
- Zelensky's warning -
Away from the frontlines, Ukraine is braced for increased Russian air strikes across the country as winter approaches.
Zelensky warned late Thursday that Moscow was likely stockpiling missiles to hit energy facilities over the coming months.
Last year, millions of Ukrainians suffered debilitating blackouts after relentless Russian strikes on power stations and the electrical grid.
"My estimation is that they are accumulating (missiles), but that they don't have many more missiles compared to what they previously had," Zelensky told reporters on Thursday, referring to last year's attacks.
Kyiv has urged its allies abroad to bolster its supply of air defence systems, and Zelensky said on Thursday Ukraine was in a better position now than last year.
He added that authorities had built more bomb shelters and increased aid points where civilians could keep warm and charge phones during power outages.
But he warned in separate comments that Ukraine did not have "100 percent protection" from Russian aerial attacks.
"Cities like Kharkiv, regions like Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, need more (air defence) systems," he said in an evening address posted on social media.
He also told reporters that Western sanctions had slowed Moscow's production of missiles, but that its supply of attack drones was "more or less fine".
"Winter will be difficult, but not worse than the previous one," Zelensky said.
Ukraine says two killed in Russian strikes near frontline
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) Nov 18, 2023 -
Ukraine said two first responders were killed and at least seven people injured in Russian rocket strikes on the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday.
The attacks came as Kyiv's air force said Russia fired 38 drones at its territory overnight -- the highest reported number in more than six weeks.
Ukrainian police said Russia fired a series of rocket strikes at the village of Komyshuvakha, close to the frontline in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claimed to have annexed last year.
"As a result of the first two strikes, four local residents were injured and a fire broke out in a residential building," they said in a statement.
"When the police and rescuers arrived at the scene, Russians conducted another strike. Two emergency service workers were killed, and three more were injured."
Separately, Ukraine's air force said Saturday it shot down 29 of the 38 Iranian-made Shahed drones -- also known as "kamikaze drones" because they are packed with explosives to detonate upon reaching their targets -- fired by Russia.
According to its figures, that is the most drones launched by Russia in an overnight attack since September 30.
An energy facility was hit in the southern Odesa region, with the resulting fire quickly extinguished, Ukraine's emergency services said.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had shot down 20 Ukrainian aerial drones over Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, and seven naval drones in the Black Sea, off the annexed peninsula of Crimea.
Ukraine also said Saturday that its forces "continue to hold positions on the left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river."
Ukrainian and Russian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the vast waterway in the southern Kherson region for more than a year, after Russia withdrew its troops from the western bank last November.
Ukrainian forces have staged multiple attempts to cross and hold positions on the Russian-controlled side -- with officials in Kyiv finally reporting a "successful" breakthrough last week.
"Our defenders are consolidating their positions and firing on the occupiers," the general staff said in a Saturday morning briefing on its operations on the eastern side of the river.
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