Colonel Khodarenok: Russian Armed Forces need air supremacy to storm Kherson
The Russian army is preparing to fight for Kherson, CNN reports. According to him, the Russian Armed Forces have increased the intensity of strikes on the Quarantine Island in order to separate it from the "mainland" part of the city, seize it, and then return the entire regional center under their control. The channel does not exclude that an amphibious landing on the island is possible "in the coming weeks." Whether Russian troops will storm Kherson and what is necessary for success - in the material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
The Russian armed forces have made a new attempt to establish control over Kherson, striking the automobile bridge on the Quarantine Island and key access roads, the American television channel CNN reported.
According to him, last Sunday, as a result of a series of air strikes and drones of the Russian Armed Forces, the bridge crossing between the island of Korabel and the main part of the city, which is key for Kherson, was damaged.
In fact, we are talking about the Quarantine Island, which is separated from the rest of Kherson by the Koshevaya River, which flows into the Dnieper. The shipbuilder is the name of the microdistrict located on this island. There are two bridges leading there - railway and automobile. The latter was subjected to intense airstrikes. According to some reports, there were six direct hits of aerial bombs with UMPC (universal planning and correction modules. - "Newspaper.Ru"). The length of the bridge is 250 m, the width is 15 m, and the material is reinforced concrete. The bridge has suffered very severe damage, but traffic continues to move along it.
As CNN notes, the intensity of Russian air strikes in the area of the bridge, on the Quarantine Island itself and in the surrounding areas of the city has increased significantly recently. And this is due to the fact that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have actually turned the Quarantine Island into a powerful fortified area. As, in particular, the governor of the Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, notes, the roofs of residential buildings in the Korabel microdistrict are simply teeming with drone operators and artillery fire spotters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Establishing control over Kherson and the region, according to CNN, remains one of the main goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin in this armed conflict. The increased intensity of air strikes and unmanned vehicles, according to the TV channel, may characterize the intention of the Russian army to seize the Quarantine Island in the near future, and then seize the rest of the city. The channel does not exclude the possibility of a Russian landing on the island "in the coming weeks." Military blogger Yuriy Podolyaka shares the same opinion: according to him, the prerequisites for landing in Kherson exist, and "the actions of aviation, drone operators and gunners are clearly preparing such a scenario."
Of course, the plans of the Russian command to capture Kherson and the region can only be judged presumably and in the form of versions. In order to take over such a city by storm, an offensive operation of at least an army scale is required, especially since the fighting will be associated with the need to force numerous water barriers.
It is necessary to ensure the appropriate deployment of troops and crossing facilities, equipment and maintenance of crossings, and their survivability. And the Dnieper River, its tributaries and channels represent wide (250-600 m) and large (over 600 m) water barriers.
At the same time, you need to have a very rich imagination in order to imagine the classic crossing of the Dnieper River on regular amphibious vehicles such as infantry fighting vehicles or the organization of ferry crossings in modern warfare.
This does not mean that an operation to storm Kherson is fundamentally impossible. It's just that its planning and implementation today requires a qualitatively different organizational approach, unlike all previous classical views on the conduct of such hostilities.
First of all, it is necessary to achieve complete air supremacy and the subsequent effective anti-aircraft missile and fighter aircraft cover of bridge crossings. This is a very difficult task, but nevertheless there is nothing impossible in its solution. The near future will show how the Russian army will carry out the assault on Kherson and the subsequent exit to the borders of this region.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
