Head of Ukraine's biggest military charity says Russia has no potential to capture Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro and Kharkiv

Taras Chmut, the head of the Come Back Alive foundation, a Ukrainian non-governmental military charity organisation, has noted that Russian forces have no potential to capture the cities of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro or Kharkiv, though they could take advantage of the chaos in the management of Ukrainian troops and achieve some local victories.

Source: Chmut in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "As for Kherson: there is a big water obstacle there – the Dnipro River. In recent months, there have been active discussions about them [Russian troops] preparing for a possible river landing. [The Ukrainian attempt to establish a bridgehead in] Krynky is a controversial episode in this war. But at the same time, the Russians have studied it well and drawn conclusions.

If you consider their warfare strategy, where human life holds little value, this could be a potential success for them. Why? Because the mirror image of Krynky would tie down significant resources of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which are already in short supply. The losses the Russians would suffer there are entirely acceptable for them [the Russian military leadership].

I'm not referring to the capture of all of Kherson. The point is that on the one hand, preparations for a possible river landing now and six months ago manifest differently, and it seems more likely now.

On the other hand, the Russians are making Kherson deserted, destroying civilian infrastructure, logistics, minibuses, and ambulances and dropping explosives from Mavic [drones] on people right on the street. Their task is to turn [Kherson] into a dead city. That's what they are doing now. And, sadly, the loss of the islands on the Dnipro River, the shift of the contact line closer to the right [west] bank, means that they can launch Mavics and First-Person View drones into the city from the islands."

Details: Speaking about Zaporizhzhia, Chmut noted that the city is under constant fire, and the Russians are attempting to advance towards the city.

"This is not the main front, although we expected major offensive actions a few months ago — it’s no secret, half the [Ukrainian] army was there. The Russians are saying everywhere that they want to reach it, but it’s not as easy as it seems, because the distances are significant. However, just like Kherson, under fire, they are making the city deserted," he said.

As for Dnipro, Chmut notes that the situation there is better due to the greater distance. However, it’s a similar situation, and the same applies to Kharkiv.

He explained that while the Russians obviously lack the potential to capture any of these four cities right away, the chaos in the management of Ukrainian troops could lead to a situation where the defence forces are spread thin across the front. This could result in the Russians eventually taking large spans of territory, not limited to forested areas or small distances, but across brigade defence zones spanning tens of kilometres.

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