UAF Gain Ground in Kherson and Donbas Sectors, Dozens of RF Armored Vehicles Claimed Destroyed

Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) attacks gained ground and, apparently, a series of local victories in the southern Kherson and Donbas sectors, both official Ukrainian and Russian Federation (RF) information platforms said on Monday, September 5.

The most dramatic UAF success was scored by UAF infantry assaulting and capturing the village of Vysokopillya, in the Kherson sector. Video and images posted by the 1st Special Operations Brigade showed jubilant troopers raising a Ukrainian flag over a Vysokopillya rooftop, and hauling a captured RF armored vehicle – a BMD-2 – away from abandoned Russian defensive positions.

The pro-Russia Readovka information confirmed UAF units had captured the village in an attack on the night of Saturday, September 5, attack: “Their (UAF) fighters were able to achieve a tactical success and captured the western end of the village…they did a photo session with their flag on top of the hospital…in order to avoid getting encircled, our (RF troops) had to retreat. “

One UAF poster wrote the Ukrainian special forces operators captured “a large number” of RF prisoners. Another UAF poster said the defeated defenders were members of the RF’s 83rd Airborne Assault Brigade, an elite infantry unit using BMD-2 fighting vehicles.

Located some 45 km. south of the industrial city of Kryvyi Rih, Ukrainian President Zelensky’s hometown, Vysokopillya controls a key bridge crossing the Inhulets River, and had long been a base for RF attacks northward. The town, with a pre-war population of 3,500, is among the largest communities liberated by UAF forces in the southern sector, since Kyiv kicked off a broad-front offensive in the Kherson sector last week.

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Zelensky, in his daily evening television address, on Sunday, September 4, singled out the men of the 63rd Battalion 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade, 42nd Separate Mechanized Infantry Brigade, and 54th Motorized Brigade for advancing on and capturing three villages and a key piece of commanding terrain in the Donbas sector, to the north and east of the Kherson sector.

According to multiple UAF and Ukrainian independent news reports, UAF infantry used small boats to cross the Siversky Donets River to capture the village of Ozerne. The Ukrainians reportedly took the village bridge across the river intact and were consolidating bridgehead defenses. According to unconfirmed social media reports, UAF patrols also entered and captured the adjacent town of Yampil. Both Ozerne and Yampil were the scenes of fierce fighting in June, where an RF offensive to capture the whole of Donbas reached a high watermark.

The main effort of the UAF in the Kherson sector, according to RF official sources and scattered Ukrainian conventional and social media reports, was still along the southern reaches of the Inhulets River, in the Kherson sector. Ukrainian bridging and combat engineer units had, per those reports, constructed a pontoon bridge near the village of Bereznehuvate and, despite RF attempts to destroy it, “columns of (UAF) people and equipment were crossing the bridge”, Readovka reported.

In progress since Tuesday, Kyiv’s Kherson offensive has featured multiple platoon- or  company-sized attacks apparently aimed at capturing RF defensive positions or checkpoint in and around the Inhulets River line.  RF information platforms have claimed the UAF has taken heavy losses, a claim denied by UAF official spokesmen.

The overall headquarters for the operation, Joint Forces Command South (JFCS), released data on Sunday, September 4, claiming RF forces lost, in fighting in the southern sector over the weekend, 23 tanks, 54 armored personnel carriers and nine cannon or rocket artillery systems. Kyiv Post was not able to verify the UAF kill claims independently.

Anecdotal social media posts seemed to support the Ukrainian military-related social media over the weekend, and seemed to show the JFCS claim that the offensive was going well, with a distinct spike in images of destroyed RF armored vehicles and RF dead and prisoners and anti-aircraft systems linked to the southern sector. Video footage from a Bayraktar strike drone showed UAF precision-guided munitions demolishing RF anti-aircraft systems and heavy artillery in night strikes.