Armed with Western weapons, Ukraine is preparing a counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region occupied by Russia, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andrii Zahorodniuk told the outlet that retaking Kherson is key before Russia officially annexes the territory, which it plans to do sometime this year.
"Kherson has a huge strategic importance, politically because it is the only regional capital taken by Russia, and militarily because if the Russians solidify their control there, they will certainly use it to try to move ahead and take our entire coast," Zahorodniuk said.
Local Ukrainian official Serhiy Khlan, who escaped Kherson after Russia occupied the region, shared a similar concern over the Kremlin's planned annexation.
"The referendum represents a big threat, and so we need to ruin the plans of the occupiers," Khan said, diligently awaiting the vote likely to be held in September.
Kyiv has been purposefully quiet over what time it plans a full-scale invasion. Still, it continues to pick off Russian strategic structures and weapons.
A Ukrainian high mobility artillery rocket system supplied by the United States recently destroyed a bridge and railway outside Kherson City.
That attack left Russian forces with only one access route out of the city, through the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station’s dam 50 miles northeast. Further, Ukrainian forces have struck dozens of Moscow artillery, warehouses, and command centers across Kherson.
According to Kherson's Ukrainian regional governor, Kyiv has already recaptured 53 settlements from Russia in the region as of Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Of those settlements, most are relatively small but serve as motivation for plans of the imminent counteroffensive.
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