KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces have broken through Moscow’s defenses in the strategic southern Kherson region, the Russian military acknowledged Monday, an achievement that delivers a sharp blow to one of the four areas in Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed last week. Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his daily briefing that “with superior tank units in the direction of Zolotaya Balka, Aleksandrovka, the enemy managed to penetrate into the depths of our defense.” Konashenkov added that “Russian troops have occupied a preprepared defensive line and continue to inflict massive fire damage” on Kyiv’s forces. Kherson is one of the four regions illegally annexed by Moscow last week after a hasty “referendum” orchestrated by the Kremlin that Western nations have derided as a sham vote at gunpoint. Kherson has been one of the toughest battlefields for the Ukrainians, with slower progress when compared with Ukraine’s breakout offensive in the northeast around the country’s second-largest city of Kharkiv that began last month. As the front lines shifted, the political theater in Moscow continued. Russia’s lower house of parliament on Monday quickly rubber-stamped an endorsement of the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia, a move that will be followed by the upper house on Tuesday. Still, Russian officials and lawmakers gave conflicting signals on exactly what areas are being incorporated.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said before the vote Monday that two regions, Donetsk and Luhansk, are joining Russia with the same administrative borders that existed before a conflict erupted there in 2014 between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. But he noted that the issue of the borders of the two other regions — Zaporizhzhia and Kherson — remains open.
“We will continue to discuss that with residents of those regions,” Peskov told reporters, without elaborating.
Putin’s land grab has threatened to push the conflict to a dangerous new level. It also prompted Ukraine to formally apply for fast-track NATO membership.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian media outlets on Monday highlighted an image of Ukrainian troops displaying flags at a marker for the village of Khreshchenivka, which is in the same area of Kherson where Ukrainian troops apparently have broken through Russian lines.
Ukraine’s presidential official said Russian authorities have restricted people from leaving the city of Kherson, introducing special permits for those who want to go.Ukraine has pressed its counteroffensive in the Kherson region since the summer, relentlessly pummeling Russian supply lines and making inroads into the areas west of the Dnieper River held by the Russians.