By KYIV. Nov 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Russian forces in the eastern part of Kherson region are probably partially vulnerable to a Ukrainian interception campaign similar to the one used to recapture the western part of Kherson region, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in a report on Thursday.
“Several major ground lines of communication (GLOCs) run through eastern Kherson Oblast into other Russian-controlled areas in southern Ukraine … Russian troops are establishing defensive positions along some of these critical GLOCs, and social media reporting indicates that Ukrainian strikes have already begun targeting Russian concentration areas and military assets on these routes. The limited number of high-quality roads and railways in this area, particularly connecting Crimea to the mainland, creates potential bottlenecks that could be vulnerable to Ukrainian interdiction efforts that would gradually degrade the Russian ability to continue supplying its grouping in eastern Kherson region and other areas of southern Ukraine,” the report reads.
The analytics note that it will most likely be more difficult for Ukrainian forces to achieve such results in the left-bank part of Kherson region as were achieved in the right-bank part, but perhaps they will be able to hinder Russia’s efforts to strengthen and hold its new defensive lines.
The ISW reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree changing the composition of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC) on November 17. The decree notably expels four Russian human rights activists. “This decree likely represents the Kremlin’s wider effort to stifle domestic civil opposition by continuing to platform prominent voices in the information space that propagate the Kremlin’s line on the war in Ukraine,” the report reads.
On Thursday, Russian sources continued to claim that Ukrainian troops are conducting counteroffensive operations along the Svatove-Kreminna line, and invaders themselves continued ground attacks around Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and southwest of Donetsk City. Ukrainian troops, in their turn, continued targeting Russian military assets and concentration areas on the east bank of Kherson region and in the rear areas of Zaporizhia region on November 17.
“Russian authorities continue to face discontented mobilized personnel and low morale on the front lines. Russian occupation officials continued to destroy Ukrainian culture in Russian-occupied territories,” the report reads.
