Russian military command reportedly leaves Kherson after losing crucial bridges

Russia’s military command is relocating to the left bank of the Dnipro River, according to Natalia Gumenyuk, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command. As a result, Russia will no longer have command centers in the city of Kherson.

“There’s clear evidence that after the strikes we carried out on the occupying troops’ command centers… their command staff is very quickly moving in the direction ‘beyond the bridge’ — in other words, to the left bank — to ensure it’s not cut off from routes to safer territory,” Gumenyuk said on Monday, August 15.

Other Ukrainian officials reported earlier that Russia’s military command was leaving Kherson. On August 13, Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration head Vitaliy Kim wrote in a Telegram post that “the entire command staff [of Russia’s forces in Kherson] is moving beyond the Dnipro.” On August 15, Yuriy Sobolevsky, first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, said that Russia’s military command had “actually left Kherson.”

Under wartime conditions, it is not always possible for journalists to verify official statements promptly.

• In Ukraine’s Kherson region, there are only three bridges across the Dnipro River: the Antonivskyi Bridge on the outskirts of Kherson, a rail bridge about six kilometers (4 miles) from Kherson, and a dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in the town of Nova Kakhovka, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Kherson.
• In recent weeks, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have used U.S.-supplied HIMARS missile systems to repeatedly shell the Antonivskyi Bridge in an attempt to render it unusable for transporting Russian military vehicles.
• In late July, Ukrainian forces reported that they had struck the rail bridge near Kherson, putting it out of commission. On August 13, the military reported it had also damaged the bridge at the power plant in Nova Kakhovka.
• In a report on August 13, the British Defense Ministry reported that the land-based supply routes for “several thousand” Russian troops on the Dnipro River’s west bank in the Kherson region had “almost certainly” become completely dependent on pontoon ferries.