Ukraine Steps Up Attack To Retake Southern Region From Russia, President Zelensky: We Won't Give Up

President Volodymyr Zelensky. (Source: President.gov.ua)

JAKARTA - Ukraine is stepping up its efforts to retake the Russian-held south, trying to bomb and isolate Russian troops in hard-to-supply areas, but said on Thursday it saw evidence Moscow was redeploying its troops to defend the region.

In a message to mark the annual Ukrainian State Day, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy congratulated Ukraine and sounded defiant.

"We will not give up. We will not be intimidated. Ukraine is an independent, free and indivisible country. And always will be," he wrote on Telegram.

After Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement last week to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports, UN aid chief Martin Griffiths said he hoped the first shipment of grain from Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be made by Friday.

He said the "important" details for the ship's safe passage were still being worked out, however, adding that "the devil is in the details".

Allowing safe passage for grain shipments from Ukrainian ports would alleviate shortages that have left tens of millions of people worldwide facing rising food prices and hunger.

In addition, Ukraine said on Thursday that its planes had struck five Russian strongholds around the city of Kherson and other nearby towns.

The southern Kherson region, which borders Russia's annexed Crimea, fell to Russian forces soon after they began what Moscow called a "special military operation" on February 24. Ukraine described Russia's actions as an imperial-style war of conquest.

British military intelligence, which is assisting Ukraine, said it was likely that Ukrainian forces had also erected a bridge south of the river that runs along the territory's northern border.

"The Ukrainian counterattack in Kherson is gathering momentum," the agency said in a statement.

Not only that, Ukraine says it has retaken several small settlements on the region's northern edge in recent weeks as it tries to push Russian troops back, a potential start for what Kyiv calls a major counter-offensive to retake the south.

Separately, Russia said on Thursday it was unaffected, with the defense ministry saying its planes had struck a Ukrainian infantry brigade in the far north of the Kherson region and killed more than 130 of its soldiers in the past 24 hours.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed civil-military government that runs the Kherson region, also rejected Western and Ukrainian assessments of the battlefield situation.