General Romanenko: Ukrainian Forces Cut Land Corridor For Russians On Left Bank Of Dnipro River

There are three ways to the Crimean civil boundary.

According to information from unofficial sources, the Ukrainian Defence Forces successfully crossed the Dnipro River in several areas and could take a number of bridgeheads on the left bank of the river in the Kherson region. This became possible due to favorable "natural factors". The offensive of the Ukrainian army continues.

One of the next tasks is to cut the land corridor between Russia and occupied Crimea and reach the coast of the Sea of Azov. However, there are three directions for the Ukrainian forces to achieve this goal.

Lt. Gen. Ihor Romanenko, the former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, expressed this opinion in an exclusive interview with obozrevatel.com.

– There was information from the American Institute for the Study of War - that the Ukrainian Defence Forces, probably, carried out a raid on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region the village of the Kozachi Laheri. Up to 7 boats could be landed. They managed to break through the enemy defence lines and advance 800 meters. Do you think it's possible? If yes, what does it mean? Could this be a new stage in the offensive of the Ukrainian army?

– I think that this is the case. In fact, this is the next step of the offensive. The Kherson direction was promising for us in terms of solving these problems, and precisely because it was very important for us, the enemy blew up the dam of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Station. Therefore, for some time, an offensive on this sector of the front was impossible.

Now the conditions have changed. In the last month of summer, the soil dried up. And these natural factors contribute to the solution of issues of an offensive nature. From an operational, if not strategic, point of view, this direction is also interesting.

But this is not a new element of the offensive but a continuation. Because according to the latest information, the left-bank positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are between the Antonivka Bridge to Oleshki. Later, information began to appear regarding the fact that our troops appear on the islands. Western sources claim that the Ukrainian troops also entered Hola Prystan.

In my opinion, these are clear signs that the situation has been assessed as favorable, and the Ukrainian Defence Forces are taking another step on the left bank to strengthen positions and, perhaps, realize a real prospect of offensive actions in this direction.

– There are forecasts that the Ukrainian Defence Forces may reach the Sea of Azov or the Crimean Isthmus in the coming months. What do you think should be the top priority?

– It's better not to set priorities. The decision on the priority goals must be taken where it will work best. As far as I understand, this is exactly how the General Staff works.

You know, to cut off the land corridor for the enemy, we are fighting near Melitopol and Berdiansk. For the third month, heavy fighting has been going on there. But our troops have already crossed the enemy's security zone, reached the enemy's first defence line and now they are putting pressure on the second defence line. Here we have some prospects.

Reserves are deployed there. Understanding the seriousness of our approach, the enemy is trying to transfer its reserves there, in particular, to stabilize the situation near Robotine and to strengthen positions in the Melitopol and Berdiansk directions. Our Defence Forces skillfully move from offensive to defensive actions, counterattacks and so on. You can add the Kherson direction because the enemy's troops and reserves are stretched there. Although the enemy’s reserves are not endless.

Thus, it is necessary to act in three directions - Melitopol, Berdiansk and Kherson. Wherever there are better prospects and opportunities, and when new resources will come as it was agreed with our allies. I’m talking about armoured vehicles, munitions, mine-clearing vehicles - act in at least two directions. See where it will turn out better, and introduce operational reserves there first, and then, perhaps, strategic ones.

– Let’s speak about drones. The Russian Federation is increasing UAV production. At the same time, Oleksiy Danilov, the NSDC (National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine) Secretary, said that Ukraine has a special program for the production of drones, including marine drones, and we can be proud of this program. What do you think, can the drone war become significantly advantageous for Ukraine in the coming months?

– We can’t expect serious advantages yet, but it is necessary to step up efforts. In the total number of drones, the Russians have caught up with us and overtaken us - they have tens of thousands of drones, especially Lancets and others. Realizing that this should not be the case, the government allocated 50 billion for drones.

Military world science shows that in the future the proportion of drones that operate in the air, on land, surface and underwater will increase. And we see this in our war, and therefore we are building up such efforts.

But Russia is a large resource state, catching up and overtaking it is the wrong approach. I believe that we need to fight for quality. Our drones should be better, and more resistant to enemy electronic warfare. We also need to develop devices that suppress enemy drones.

We already have some developments, and the allies are helping us. The only question is how to organize large-scale production for our forces as soon as possible. There is such a prospect, they are working on it.

As far as naval drones are concerned, we have already entered world military history when we successfully attacked a couple of Russian warships at the naval base in Sevastopol, which was supposedly absolutely protected. The strikes were very successful both against warships and on tankers in the port of Novorossiysk.

Near Novorossiysk, there is a vulnerable Russian oil hub in the sea, through which large volumes of oil pass (see map). That is if you actively strike from the air and by sea against these facilities, then Russia will lose more there than it will gain by withdrawing from the grain deal.

Therefore, in the grain deal negotiations, we need to raise the stakes, since we have the opportunity to significantly complicate Russia's oil exports through these drones.

There is a confrontation, there is a struggle. We must use the weakness of the enemy's defence in order to show that we will influence their maritime policy of the southern ports, which are more significant for them in terms of money than the grain corridor for us.

– There are successful drone attacks on Moscow. What about the capital city of the aggressor country Russia? What objects would be the highest priority for attacks?

– In general, any that we reach, given the abilities of our air drones. But first of all, these are military facilities. The Russian Ministry of Defence, intelligence and their defence industry facilities. Moreover, if these objects are located near, for example, airports, then as a result of attacks they are closed. It should be painful for the facilities and the Russian citizens too. It is very important that moral and psychological pressure on the "deep people" be carried out in this way.

But first of all, military facilities are important for us, of course. War is war, and the enemy must feel the law of the boomerang in action.