The Russians, risking isolation in the south, prepare for the Ukrainian attack

Russia is moving "maximum" forces south, presenting a role reversal from the eastern Donbas region: Ukraine is on the offensive and the Russians hold a key the city risks being cut off.

Ukraine has warned that Russia is rushing to strengthen its troops and defenses in the south, and that Kyiv still needed more weapons from the West, creating a heightened sense of urgency ahead of an impending counteroffensive to reclaim territory seized by Moscow.

The Ukrainians have been preparing the ground for a major counter-offensive in the southern Kherson region for weeks, and recent long-range rocket strikes have left thousands of Russian troops stationed west of the river Dnipro, in and around the port city of Kherson, in a precarious position, largely cut off from the bastio Russian ns to the east.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">But Russia is now moving "the maximum number" o f forces to the southern front in the Kherson region, said the head of the Council Ukrainian national security on Ukrainian television on Wednesday evening. The official, Oleksiy Danilov, described "a very powerful movement of their troops" towards the front in Kherson.

ImageA Russian military truck driving past unexploded ordnance this week outside Kherson, Ukraine.Credit...Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

While Western weapons have poured into the country, Ukraine has said more weapons are still needed and ammunition remains limited. Some Ukrainian officials are growing increasingly frustrated with what they believe to be slow arms deliveries from Western allies. Donor countries are training Ukrainian soldiers to use the new equipment, but that also remains a work in progress.

"Just give them guns and let them work" , said Natalya Gumenyuk, the spokeswoman for Ukraine's Southern Military Command, which is responsible for the Kherson offensive.

shoulder and say, 'Wait,'" she said. "We need more than just moral support, although we are grateful for that. We need real support, real weapons, real ammunition for these weapons Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's idea that Ukraine is a recent fiction that rightfully belongs to Russia.

"Every day we fight for everyone on the planet to understand: we are not a colony, not an enclave, not a protectorate," said Ms. .Zelensky. "Not a gubernia, an eyalet or a crown land, not a part of foreign empires, not a "part of the land", not a federated republic. Not a self-government, not a province, but a free, independent state , sovereign, indivisible and independent."group">ImageUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaking in Kiev on Thursday.Credit...Ukrainian Presidential News Service, via Reuters

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 a major ground counteroffensive...