Ukrainian marines secure positions on Dnipro left bank near Kherson

The marine corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has announced that it has secured three footholds on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, the Marine Corps Command said in a statement on Friday.

The military says that as a result of a pre-planned operation, Ukrainian soldiers have conducted "a series of successful attacks" on the left bank of the Dnipro River and, together with other units of the Defence Forces, managed to gain a foothold.

During the operation, the Russians lost 1,216 people killed and 2,217 wounded, 24 tanks, 89 artillery systems and mortars, 135 units of various vehicles, 48 armoured combat vehicles, including APCs and IFVs, nine MLRS, 14 watercraft, and 15 units of special equipment.

Four command posts and 29 ammunition depots were also hit, 135 FPV drones and five operational and tactical drones were neutralised.

"Ukrainian marines inflict fire on the left bank of the Kherson region and are carrying out actions to destroy the enemy," the Marine Corps Command said in the statement.

Earlier this week, speaking at the Hudson Institute, a US-based non-governmental think tank, the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, said that the Defence Forces had taken and are holding a ‘bridgehead’ on the left bank of the Dnipro River.

Both Ukrainian and Russian media, as well as the US Institute for the Study of War, reported that the Defence Forces had managed to gain a foothold in the area of the village of Krynky.

Officially, the Ukrainian Armed Forces leadership did not comment on this, stating only that the combat work of the Defence Forces continues and that media attention to the fighting there only harms them.

On 13 November, the Russian defence ministry announced the alleged retreat of their forces on the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, but pro-Kremlin media later removed the reports, saying the news was "cancelled as released by mistake".