‘No quick wins’ Push to retake Kherson shows Kyiv’s cautious confidence By Dan Sabbagh

Ukraine declared last week it had begun a counter offensive aiming to retake Kherson – the one city Russia holds west of the Dnieper River – prompting a fog of uncertainty to descend on how the effort was progressing, never mind whether it would succeed.

- Dan Sabbagh

Oleksiy Arestovych , a key adviser to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy , stressed there would be “no quick wins” as the attack in the south began – a point reflected in a briefing last Friday by western officials. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said Ukraine had “pushed back” the Russian defenders in “several places”, but insisted it was too soon to name villages taken or distances gained while fighting was ongoing.

The caution may be realistic, but it is also telling. This is not a blitzkrieg or a broad front attack, but rather a localised effort to strike at the most obvious strategic vulnerability in the Russian front line, and to try to demonstrate that Ukraine can drive the Russians back in places before winter sets in. It is a struggle about Kyiv’s ability to act proactively as much as it is about recapturing the occupied city itself.