Russian forces in occupied Crimea are building fortifications on the peninsula and the occupied part of Kherson province, preparing for possible Ukrainian advances in the south, according to Moscow's governor, Sergey Aksyonov.
Ukraine liberated the city of Kherson Nov. 11 after Russian troops beat a hasty retreat from the west bank of the Dnipro River. On Nov. 12, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Crimean residents would greet Ukrainian soldiers with Ukrainian flags as it was in Kherson.
Russian troops have built up new trench systems near the administrative border with occupied Crimea and the Siverskyi Donets River in eastern Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported Nov. 18.
“Some of these locations are up to 60 kilometers behind the current front line, suggesting that Russian planners are making preparations in case of further major Ukrainian breakthroughs,” reads the report.
[Trenches and other defensive structures do not automatically imply a difficult fight. The number, morale and training of the defensive troops -- which for Russia are all on the low end -- must be taken into account.]
Following their retreat from the west bank of the Dnipro River, Russian forces prioritize replenishment, regrouping and developing defensive lines in most areas of the front line in Ukraine, according to the intelligence.
Russia will likely try to redeploy some of its personnel that left Kherson “to reinforce and expand its offensive operations” near Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast, the ministry added.
In other war matters, the Czech foreign minister said the West "should not dictate" peace terms to Kyiv as Ukraine defends all of Europe.
“Ukrainians made the clear choice they didn’t want to be part of Moscow’s empire,” Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told The Guardian. He added that the West should provide Ukraine with military, financial, and humanitarian help long-term because its battle against Russia also protects Europe.
Similarly, Poland's prime minister said publicly that if Poland does not support Ukraine, war will come to Poland. "We still don't know 100 percent of the exact circumstances and reasons for the Przewodow incident" in which a missile struck Polish soil, "but we definitely know the root cause — the main reason — and that is the Russian aggression against Ukraine," Prime Minister Mateusz Moravetsky said.
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Odd couple Plant and Krauss are back
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