Ukraine Announces Starting To Launch Retaliatory Attacks, Rebutting Russia's Powered Region

Ukrainian military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Ukraine on Monday announced the start of a long-awaited counter-attack to retake territory in the south controlled by Russian forces since their invasion six months ago.

"Today we are starting offensive actions in various directions, including in the Kherson region," Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne quoted a spokesman for the southern command of Natalia Humeniuk.

Russia quickly seized Ukraine's southern region near the Black Sea coast, including the city of Kherson, in the early phase of the war in stark contrast to its failed attempt to seize the capital Kyiv.

Ukraine has used advanced weapons supplied by the West to hit Russian ammunition disposal sites and damage supply lines.

Humeniuk said at Monday's briefing that Ukraine had attacked more than 10 such ammunition disposal sites in the past week, adding they had "no doubt weakened the enemy".

He declined to provide details of the counter-attack, saying Russian troops in southern Ukraine remained "strong enough".

Separately, the Governor of the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia, Sergei Aksyonov, rejected the announcement as "other fake propaganda from Ukraine". Crimea borders the Kherson region.

Russia's RIA news agency, citing local official Vladimir Leontiev, reported that people were evacuated from a workplace in Nova Kahokva, a city 58 km (36 miles) east of Kherson, after Ukrainian troops carried out more than 10 missile strikes there.

As for the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, Russian troops opened fire on military and civilian infrastructure near Bakhmut, Shumy, Yakovlivka, Zaytsevo, and Kodema, the Ukrainian military said Monday morning.

Invasion into Ukraine has sparked the most devastating conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Thousands of people have died, millions have fled and cities destroyed. The war also threatens the global economy with an energy crisis and food supply.