Russians, Risking Isolation in the South, Build Up for Ukrainian Attack
In Kherson, which the Russians captured quickly after invading in February, they have had months to fortify their defensive lines, and the Ukrainians have yet to launch any major land-based counteroffensive.

“Of course, we are waiting for the command to attack, but it’s not really that simple,” said Senior Sgt. Oleksandr Babynets, 28, a member of the Ukrainian 28th Separate Mechanized Brigade, which is dug in along the Kherson region’s western border.

“The Russians have organized defensive lines, dug in and deployed a lot of weaponry,” he said. “We don’t just want to go ahead and die just like that. We need to work intelligently.”

In the last month, with most Russian forces tied down in the battles far to the east, in the Donbas region, Ukrainian forces in the south have managed to force Moscow’s troops back a few miles in the direction of Kherson. At their closest, along the Kherson region’s western border, they are about 30 miles from the city. There, the lines have largely frozen as each army jockeys for advantage.

As the counteroffensive brews, Russia has renewed attacks on the north, launching strikes from the Black Sea, Belarus and Russia that injured at least 15 people in the region of the capital, Kyiv, the Ukrainian authorities said on Thursday. The attacks were the first in weeks to hit the capital region, which the initial Russian offensive failed to capture early in the war.