Ukraine Kherson offensive said to kill scores of Russians

 Reuters:

The Ukrainian military said on Saturday it had killed scores of Russian soldiers and destroyed two ammunition dumps in fighting in the Kherson region, the focus of Kyiv's counter-offensive in the south and a key link in Moscow's supply lines.

Rail traffic to Kherson over the Dnipro River had been cut, the military's southern command said, potentially further isolating Russian forces west of the river from supplies in occupied Crimea and the east.

Defence and intelligence officials from Britain, which has been one of Ukraine's staunchest allies in the West since Moscow's Feb. 24 invasion, portrayed Russian forces as struggling to maintain momentum.

Ukraine has used Western-supplied long-range missile systems to badly damage three bridges across the Dnipro in recent weeks, cutting off Kherson city and - in the assessment of British defence officials - leaving Russia's 49th Army stationed on the west bank of the river highly vulnerable.

Ukraine's southern command said more than 100 Russian soldiers and seven tanks had been destroyed in fighting on Friday in the southern regions of Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odesa.

The first deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yuri Sobolevsky, told residents to stay from away from Russian ammunition dumps.

"The Ukrainian army is pouring it on against the Russians and this is only the beginning," Sobolevsky wrote on the Telegram app.

The pro-Ukrainian governor of Kherson region, Dmytro Butriy, said Berislav district was particularly hard hit. Berislav is across the river northwest of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant.


"In some villages, not a single home has been left intact, all infrastructure has been destroyed, people are living in cellars," Butriy wrote on Telegram.
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In an intelligence update on Saturday, Britain's defence ministry said Russia had likely established two pontoon bridges and a ferry system to compensate for bridges damaged in Ukrainian strikes.
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The Telegraph reports: 

Civilians have begun to leave Kherson amid fears of a major urban battle between the occupying Russian garrison and an approaching Ukrainian counter-offensive.

The exodus came as posters of the US-supplied Himars weapons system appeared on the city’s streets, urging Russian soldiers to leave.

“No one in Kherson feels safe,” said Alexander Smurikov, a 22-year-old who left with his mother and younger sisters on Wednesday.

“There was a base 500 metres from my home. [Russian soldiers] would walk around, smoke our cigarettes and spit. The Russians march like it is their land, but I bet it will not be much longer. Ukraine is coming back.
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It looks like the Ukraine offensive to take back the Kherson area is well underway and has some support from the locals.  It will be hard for the Russians to supply their forces if the pontoon crossing also comes under attack.