Combat footage shows a Ukrainian attack on an often-forgotten frontline

Ukrainian forces targeted and attacked Russian positions on an often-forgotten part of the front in the southern Kherson region. New drone footage revealed the scale of the strike and showed that heavy fighting is still happening on the Kinburn Spit.  

The combat footage was published by the Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces on the military formation’s Telegram channel. It showed what looked like an artillery attack on what Newsweek reported was a concentration of Russian soldiers. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @SJTF_Odes

The strike caused plums of smoke to rise up across several spots near positions that were near a body of water. While the short clip was not as remarkable as other video footage that has surfaced recently, it did provide an interesting look at this front. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @SJTF_Odes

Fighting in Kherson has often been forgotten about or underreported by the news media as Russian offensives in eastern Ukraine, and Kyiv’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region, have crowded headlines. But fighting in the area is still ongoing in Kherson. 

Photo Credit: Telegram @SJTF_Odes

“Battles in the south have attracted less attention than the bitter clashes marking the more dynamic chunks of the front line, such as in the eastern Donetsk oblast and in Russia's Kursk region,” explained Newsweek’s Ellie Cook. 

In 2022, Ukraine captured large swaths of land north of the Dnipro River in Kherson in a counteroffensive that saw Ukrainian forces push Russia out of all the territory its soldiers initially captured north of the Dnipro during their original invasion push. 

The frontline along the Dnipro River has remained quite static throughout 2023 and 2024 since Ukraine's initial success, barring several months where Ukrainian forces had captured a small foothold of land across the Dnipro near Krynky. 

Ukrainian forces later lost their foothold in Krynky after roughly nine months due to the overwhelming pressure from Russian forces in the region and the difficulty of keeping the Ukrainian bridgehead supplied according to The Kyiv Independent. 

However, the Kinburn Spit is arguably the more valuable piece of defensive real estate that Russian forces have clung to since Ukraine took back all of the territory to the east bank of the Dnipro River. But what makes the Kinburn Spit so Important?

The Kinburn Spit is technically a part of Mykolaiv Oblast, but it is connected to a portion of the Kherson. But what makes the area a power piece of territory is its position at the mouth of the Dnipro River and what that provides Russian forces. 

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Maps By OpenStreetMaps

“The enemy clings to this location because it allows them to maintain pressure on the northwestern Black Sea region,” said Ukrainian Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the South detachment of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army according to a report by Ukrinform published October 14th. 

“They are reinforcing their personnel, armaments, and have deployed several boats from the flotilla in temporarily occupied Crimea,” Bratchuk continued, explaining that the rupture of the area is only a matter of time. 

Ukrainian high command has decided that the time has come to capture the Kinburn Spit according to Bratchuk, though he added an offensive to take the region will be a slow and methodical grind aimed at removing Russian forces from the area. 

“This operation will be conducted in a comprehensive way using various means. The question is not whether to liberate Kinburn, but when, and according to the capabilities, resources, and operational tasks we currently have,” said Bratchuk.

“The actions of the Defense Forces around the Kinburn Spit are gradual, with combat operations taking place periodically. The objective is clear: to eliminate enemy personnel, equipment, and weaken their defenses in this location,” Bratchuk added. 

Bratchuk went on to say that the Kinburn Spit was “a strategic point essential for advancing and liberating our lands.” It is unclear if the latest combat footage of the attack on the spot was part of a liberation operation.

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Photo Credit: Telegram @SJTF_Odes