At the first stage, the regional center will definitely be released, the expert predicts.
The Ukrainian army can liberate a significant part of the territory of the Kherson region occupied by Russian invaders.
George Varos, an analyst at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), expressed this opinion in an interview with Suspilne.
He predicts that the counter-offensive will first touch the right-bank part of the region, where the regional center is also located.
“It will be difficult for the Ukrainians to carry out a larger counter-offensive. I think there will be at least one part of the counter-offensive to liberate territories up to the Perekop rampart near Crimea. But crossing the Dnieper will be a difficult task, so I think that the first stage of the counter-offensive will most likely be focused on the liberation of Kherson and the entire territory on the other side of the Ingulets River. For example, territories from Vysokopolye to Novaya Kakhovka," he suggested.
The analyst also noted the extreme importance of the Antonovsky bridge, which Russia uses to support its group in Kherson.
“In general, there are two great bridges - Antonovsky and Novokahovsky. The Ukrainian counter-offensive would have to break these supply lines so that the Russians could no longer provide reinforcements through them to Kherson. At the same time, I hope that the Ukrainians do not destroy these bridges because they will be needed to continue the counter-offensive from Kherson to Crimea because otherwise, it will be necessary to build pontoon crossings across the Dnieper. And this is an extremely wide river, so it would be extremely difficult," Varos said.
