Although it is not clear when or how this battle, which some observers describe as "Ukraine as the U.S. President Joseph Biden's midterm election" will begin. But according to Russia's "Hilstone" report, military experts are closely monitoring the events happening around Khlsong. Experts predict that a major battle against the city will begin in the next few days or weeks.
seems to have the same question. Pravda wrote that many people are now asking whether the Russian army is going to fight for the city, or retreat, or retreat without fighting.
Ukrainian army expects the Russian army to retreat
Russian military expert Boris Rozin believed in an interview with the newspaper that Ukrainian army has the ability to attack Herson and listed three possible combat methods.
In his opinion, the first and most likely situation is to launch an attack from Krivorog of Ukrainian President Zelensky's hometown Dnepropetrovsk . The goal is to weaken the Russian army's right-wing stronghold on the west bank of the Dnieper River.
In Razin's view, the second option is that Ukraine may conduct a series of login operations in order to attack the city from the east. The expert hopes that the Russian army will realize this possibility, and he told Pravda, "This destructive attack on the defender is unpleasant and the consequences should not be underestimated."
The third situation is to launch an attack from the west to the city of Nikolayev.
Although there is a contact line close to Kherson rather than to the north of the area. Ukraine assembled combat readiness forces there. Luojin believes that "in order to bypass the Russian war zone defense line, the Ukrainian army may try to carry out amphibious operations from Black Sea , for example, crossing the long estuary of the Dnieper River near the Stanislav Heights."
In his opinion, the Ukrainian General Staff hopes that once the Russian army faces the threat of being surrounded and the supply difficulties caused by continuous shelling of the estuary, it will retreat without fighting and withdraw from the Khlsong area and the western bank of the Dnieper River.
"Indeed, both the Russian military and local governments conveyed such information. The civil affairs authorities of Khlsong demanded the mass withdrawal of civilians and government officials. In addition, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the special military operations General Surovijin announced that he was ready to make a 'difficult decision'," said Rojin, adding that the Ukrainian general would not attack Khlsong is questionable.
"At present, there is no news about this. The Russian army is still in the position they were before they began to withdraw civilians from Khlsson. The enemy's attack has been repelled," said Boris Rozin.
Russian army is preparing for a possible "Herson War"
Other experts also believe that the evacuation of civilians is a sign that the Russian army is preparing to engage in a fierce battle. The purpose of the plan is to get civilians out of hostile areas and let the military give it a try.
Another expert, Jennissev, pointed out in an interview with Pravda, that "the main problem with Khlsson's defense is that it is located on the western right bank of the Dnieper River. This means that all logistics chains must cross the river. The Ukrainian army continues to shell the Antonovsky Bridge, which is crucial to supply, and all other pontoon bridges."
Another danger is that an explosion in the Dnieper River dam near the new Kahovka settlement. Zelensky did not conceal the Ukrainian army's plan to blow up the dam.
If the dam is blown up, it may trigger a new round of disputes
Russian special military operations commander Surovikin, senior civil affairs officials Saldo and Stremusov also talked about this. If the dam is blown up, floods will occur. Several settlements along the river will be flooded and destroyed. Parts of the city of Kherson will also be flooded. Worst of all, the Russian military's supply chain will be paralyzed for a long time.
It is worth noting that on October 22, when Reuters reported on the possible "War of Khlsson", he reported on the possible bombing of the dam under the title "Zelenskiy calls on West to warn Russia not to blow up dam".It is foreseeable that if a war really occurred in the city of Kherson and the dam happened to be blown up again, I believe a new dispute would definitely happen.
According to Reuters, Zelensky said in a televised speech that the Russian army has placed explosives in the new Kahovka Dam and plans to blow it up. He also said, "Now, everyone in the world must act quickly to prevent Russia from launching another 'terrorist attack'. Destroying the dam will mean a large-scale disaster."
During this period, Russia's Pravda wrote in another article that the "War of Khlsson" is a key battle for Ukraine to pull up votes for the midterm election of the US Biden administration. It is reported that since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict at the end of February, the government has provided Ukraine with more than $17.5 billion in military aid to Ukraine. Biden is worried that he will lose aid to Ukraine once he is captured by the Republican Party in next month's general election, or both houses of the US Senate and House of Representatives. Therefore, in order to obtain more aid from the United States, Ukraine's capture of Khlsson will become a key battle to support the Biden administration.
text｜Liang Shichuan
