Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says his forces are advancing "step by step" in the occupied southern city of Kherson.

According to foreign media, Telegraph reports, the city fell into the hands of Russia in the first days of the war and is located in a strategic location west of the Dnipro River.

And on Saturday, UK defense officials reported heavy fighting near Kherson.

The Ukrainian advance meant that Russian supply lines west of the river were "increasingly at risk", in their estimation.

Earlier this month, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged residents of Kherson to evacuate the city as soon as possible to avoid gridlock in the city during a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine.

"It is necessary to do this so that the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not endanger the civilian population during offensive operations," she told state television.

Otherwise, Kiev's forces have targeted river crossings in the region in an attempt to "block" Russia's supply lines.

On Saturday, an artillery attack hit the Daryivskyi Bridge over the Dnipro River.

And on Tuesday, they targeted Kherson's Antonovsky Bridge — one of only two Russian-controlled crossings — with US-supplied artillery.

UK officials have previously described the Antonovsky Bridge as a "keystone" for Russian forces and said on Saturday that if "crossings were denied and Russian forces in occupied Kherson were blocked, it would be a significant military and political obstacle for Russia." ".

Meanwhile, a senior defense adviser to Zelensky claimed that around 1,000 Russian troops in the region have been surrounded by Ukrainian forces.

Oleksiy Arestovych said the Russians were caught in a "tactical encirclement" near the village of Vysokopillya in the Kherson region.

The BBC has not independently verified this claim.

Russia occupied Kherson with relatively little resistance early in the war, and the failure of Ukraine's intelligence service (SBU) to destroy crossing points over the Dnipro before leaving the city is believed to have led to Zelensky's dismissal of agency director Ivan Bakanov.

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