The Russian Federation storms the islands at the mouth of the Dnieper to open the way to Kherson - Forbes

Control over them will give the enemy access to the river, which plays a key strategic role in hostilities in the south, writes Forbes. Journalists point out that the Russian Federation now keeps the control of the east bank of the Dnieper, and the Armed Forces - the Western.

The capture of the islands of Cossack and Kruglik will allow the Russian 61st URMP to place artillery, control with its access to the river, bring bridges and transport Russian troops to the west shore to try to occupy Kherson again. The attacks of the Russians with the help of artillery reflects the 126th separate team of territorial defense of Odessa. According to American journalists, the decisive factor in these battles is the technique.

Both sides need small boats for storming and defense of the islands. The Russian Federation has collected a small fleet of 300 inflatable boats with a rigid body (Rhib) to cross troops across the river. It is noted that these boats move quickly in shallow water, they are difficult to see them at night, and they are equipped with machine guns and grenade launchers, which turns them into moving combat platforms.

The Ukrainian military received their own boats within the foreign aid packages, the authors of the material say. The Netherlands provided 14 Rhib, eight militarized river patrol boats and CB90 landing boats, the United States - more than 100 coastal and river patrol boats equipped with modern weapons, and Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Denmark and another RHIBS. Both sides also use drones and EWS in the battles.

The Forbes material states that Ukraine is developing a fleet of its own unmanned surface vessels (USV). In particular, Seababy and Magura 5 are marine drones equipped with various weapons. "These drones, which were originally used for Kamikadze missions to destroy Russian ships, now have their own weapons and can affect both water and aircraft," journalists write.

With their help, it will be possible to patrol the waterways and interfere with the offensive of Russian storms, add the authors of the article, in the forces of defense of the south reported that the enemy per day carried out on the mouth of the Dnieper 4 storms of the island zone. According to the military, the Russians did not have success and returned to previous positions. There was no report for December 18 at the time of the material.

We will remind, on December 4, the focus found out if the Russian Federation would go on the offensive on Kherson. Former SBU employee and military analyst Ivan Stupak argued that according to the Ukrainian military, the Russian Federation did not have enough strength to start offensive in the Kherson region, but the movement of hostile units and equipment was recorded.

On December 4, the head of the Kherson Regional Regional State Administration Alexander Proudin declared the probable large -scale offensive under Kherson prepared by the Russians. According to him, at that time the enemy was preparing a crossing through the Dnieper.