Kinburn Spit Has Become a Trap for 2,500 Russian Soldiers

Ukrainian forces say about 2,500 Russian soldiers remain on the Kinburn Spit, where disrupted supply routes have left the troops increasingly isolated.

Ukrainian servicemen told the Crimea.Realities project of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that drone strikes and remote mining had restricted deliveries of ammunition, fuel and food. Most Russian forces had reportedly withdrawn east of the village of Herojske.

Java, the call sign of a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit commander, said Russian supplies had previously moved from the resort town of Zaliznyi Port toward Herojske and then deeper into the peninsula. Intercepted conversations now indicated that the logistics system was failing. “They shout that logistics are not working and they do not want to go there because it would mean death for them. The spit has become a trap for them,” he said.

Ukrainian soldiers said Russian forces had earlier used artillery, self-propelled guns and other equipment directly from the spit. Systematic Ukrainian strikes destroyed most of those capabilities, they said. Russian forces can now reach Ukrainian-controlled coastal areas of the Mykolaiv region only with long-range artillery located in the occupied part of Kherson region, according to Java.

Ukraine has also remotely mined roads used for troop rotations and supply deliveries, targeting vehicles, motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles carrying personnel and equipment. The operation remains complicated by the presence of civilians. Ukrainian forces say Russian troops sometimes wear civilian clothes and fire from residential buildings, requiring checks to prevent civilian casualties. The Kinburn Spit lies between the Black Sea and the Dnieper estuary, opposite the Ukrainian-controlled city of Ochakiv. Russia occupied the area in 2022. Fighting, fires, pollution and military construction have nearly destroyed its protected coastal ecosystem, a Ukrainian Navy spokesman said last November.

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They shout that logistics are not working and they do not want to go there because it would mean death for them. The spit has become a trap for them.