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In October 2023, when the Ukrainian Marines crossed the Dnieper and held their positions on the left bank, some hoped to open a new front. By this time, the large-scale counteroffensive in the east had failed. Optimists believed that the establishment of a bridgehead near the village of Klinki would open a new front towards Crimea.
However, the Ukrainian army was unable to establish a solid position. Reports about the transfer of tanks and other heavy equipment have not been confirmed. But the Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes that it is very important from a political and psychological point of view to seize the initiative at least in one place during the difficult phase of the conflict.
On Tuesday, anonymous military sources told Ukrainian media that the bridgehead had been evacuated, an act that had taken place at least a week earlier.
It appears to have ended an operation that was in many ways a costly and probably largely politically motivated mistake. It was also poorly planned, according to recently released reports. The military leadership failed to adequately supply the troops along the Russian-controlled Dnieper River.
From the beginning, Ukrainian servicemen complained that they were largely left to fend for themselves, having to transport everything they needed in small boats under enemy fire.
Klinky was not a convenient place for fighting. The terrain there was swampy, and the fishing village itself consisted of wooden houses until it was completely destroyed. The aviation could almost unhindered bomb the positions of the 36th Brigade of the Ukrainian Fleet with planned bombs, and the air defense near Kherson was weak.
According to police data, 262 soldiers have died in Kelinki since October last year. However, the real number is much higher, with 788 still missing.
The fact that such detailed casualty figures are released is highly unusual, and shows how controversial the operation was and remains.
Still, there was a military logic to the landing. The left bank of the Dnieper is significantly lower than the right, allowing Ukrainian artillery and drone operators to fire on the enemy from across the river. The Russian 810th Marine Brigade, operating near Klinky, lost far more men and equipment in the attack than the Ukrainians did. Among the dead was at least one general.
From a broader perspective, the Klinky bridgehead also aided the Ukrainians by forcing the enemy to withdraw resources from other parts of the front, thereby weakening it.
According to this strategy, Kiev defended the barely defensive positions of Bakhmut and Avdeyevka until the last moment. Such high casualties in the operation have been controversial. The problem of expediency was particularly serious in Klinki, because the village was separated from the Ukrainian side by more than three kilometers of rivers and swamps. In order to launch a large-scale offensive across the Dnieper, the Ukrainians had to assemble forces of completely different sizes.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear whether the Ukrainians have withdrawn from the entire left bank, or perhaps moved some of their forces downstream. For the past nine months, Deep State map analysts have marked the riverbank as a gray, disputed area. Regardless, reports of fighting have continued in recent days. Russia claims that Ukrainian attacks are now being carried out by small special forces units across the Dnieper.
Most of the servicemen interviewed by the Ukrainian publication Слидство.Info said that protecting Klinki from the beginning was “a super difficult task with limited resources.” “It was especially difficult to get there in October,” said a police officer who took part in the operation.
Some participants in the Klinki landings believed that it was still possible to defend the village and attempt to expand the bridgehead at first. However, during the fighting and shelling of late winter, Klinki was completely destroyed, and the task of defending these positions became a “one-way street” for many soldiers.
Marines interviewed by the publication said the Russian military took no prisoners in Klinki, but the list of prisoners to be exchanged included the names of fighters who went missing near the village.
Klinky is located on the left bank of the Dnieper River in the Kherson region. Russian troops occupied it at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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