Ukraine claims to have breached Russian lines as it battles to retake Kherson

Ukraine claims its troops have broken through Russian lines near the southern city of Kherson, shortly after it launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive.

The strategic Black Sea port, which was captured by Moscow’s forces early in the conflict, still represents one of Russia’s most important gains in six months of the war.

Oleksiy Arestovych, one of president Volodymyr Zelensky’s senior advisers, said his country’s army had breached Russia’s defences within “a few hours” of starting their attack.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army’s southern command said it had succeeded in inflicting heavy losses on Russian units in the area, alleging that it had killed 82 soldiers and had destroyed several ammunition depots.

The command’s spokesperson said its counterattack around Kherson “had unquestionably weakened the enemy”.

However, Russia hit out at the claims, suggesting the Ukrainian attempts to recapture territory in the Kherson and Mykolaiv regions had “failed miserably”.

Ukrainian soldiers were rebuffed and sustained significant casualties, according to the Russian state-run RIA news agency.

Russia’s denial follows Mr Zelensky’s vow that his army would chase Russian troops “to the border”.

Speaking on Monday evening, he said: “If they want to survive – it’s time for the Russian military to run away. Go home.”

“Ukraine is taking back its own,” he added.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed on Tuesday that several Ukrainian brigades had “increased the weight of artillery fires in front line sectors across southern Ukraine” on Monday.

Although Russia has focused on strengthening its positions in Kherson since early August, its troops are still vulnerable there, according to the MoD.

“Most of the units around Kherson are likely under-manned and are reliant upon fragile supply lines by ferry and pontoon bridges across the Dnipro,” the MoD said.

Over in northeastern Ukraine, at least five people were killed and another seven injured by Russian shelling in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, said Ihor Terekhov, the mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city.

The attack comes as western officials said they planned to build up their weapons supplies to help Ukraine.

“We are depleting our stocks. We are providing so many capacities to Ukraine that we have to refill our stocks,” the EU’s top foreign diplomat Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.

The senior official also expressed confidence that the bloc would establish a mission to organise military training for Ukrainian soldiers. European countries have so far offered Ukraine military advise individually, as there has not been an official EU-wide policy.