Sanctions against Rosatom will end the saga of nuclear blackmail of the Russian Federation. Serhiy Zgurets column

The Russians near Kherson are running low on ammunition

First, about Kherson and the actions of Ukrainian troops. A specific vacuum is maintained. The plan is clear - the Armed Forces of Ukraine must act in different directions to cut apart the enemy groups trying to defend Kherson and the bridgehead on the right-bank Ukraine. Force them to capitulate or retreat. Ukrainian Operational Command South reported that the defense forces liberated more than 90 settlements in the Kherson region. Concerning the 59th Motorized Brigade, there was information that the Armed Forces were fighting the enemies for one of the strategic roads. I think this is the direction to Beryslav. Also, the Armed Forces continue to strike at concentrations of personnel, weapons, military equipment of the enemies, bridges and crossings. Currently, the Russian group on the right bank of the Dnipro River is running out of ammunition, significantly reducing its defense capabilities.

Recently, British intelligence claimed that the enemies are planning an organized retreat from the right-bank part of the Kherson region to gain a foothold along the left bank of the Dnipro River. However, the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Budanov said that the enemies would not leave right-bank Ukraine. According to Budanov, the Russian occupiers are only creating the illusion that they are leaving Kherson and, most likely, bringing new military units there and preparing the city for defense. It coincides with the evening summary of the General Staff, which says that the occupiers in the city are changing into civilian clothes, staying in empty buildings and preparing for street battles. The dynamics in this area remain tense, although Budanov assures that Kherson will be released by the end of the year.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are approaching the cutting of the route between Svatove and Kreminna

In the Luhansk region, the enemies are trying to stop the advance of our troops along the Troitske-Svatove-Kreminna border in the Luhansk region. Both sides realize that this is a significant direction. If we break through in the Svatove region, the way opens for us to liberate the entire northern Luhansk region. And this evening, our General Staff reported that the Ukrainian Armed Forces pushed the enemies out of the localities Karmazynivka, Nevske (movement towards Kreminna) and Myasozharivka (Svatove). This suggests that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are approaching cutting the route between Svatove and Kreminna. This is very important to weaken the enemies' ability to hold this critical line.

In Bakhmut, the Russian Federation is spending colossal resources to advance a few meters

The enemies have been conducting the operation to capture Bakhmut since the middle of April, and they are spending enormous resources to pass a few meters. It spends a lot of shells to destroy our defensive positions at first. Our infantry is holding up, but we need more barrel artillery and precision systems. The enemies want to get hold of the outskirts of Bakhmut, and its activity has recently increased. The maintenance of Bakhmut is essential for the entire Siversk - Soledar - Bakhmut agglomeration.

"Dirty bomb" as an element of prolonging the war

For the enemies, the impossibility of success at the front changes in other ways. They are trying to ensure that the war is prolonged. In the Russian Federation, they started resorting to new ideas, calling the defence ministers of NATO members and talking about Ukraine using a "dirty" bomb.

As military expert Mykhailo Samus told me, a "dirty bomb" is some amount of radioactive substance that, when used with conventional explosives, will spread over some territory. According to him, this is not a nuclear weapon but the use of radioactive substances to pollute the territory. This is considered a variant of a terrorist weapon. And Russia is trying to shake off the stigma of a terrorist state after massive attacks on Ukrainian cities. They wore terrorist and genocidal optics. Against the background of the campaign's failure on infrastructure to change the situation on the front and the balance, they began to switch the information plan, accusing Ukraine of what they were doing. Ukraine has never done anything like that and will never do it because it makes no sense.

Calls to NATO ministers are a special information operation

Shoigu's and Gerasimov's calls are a separate special information operation of the Federal Security Service or the Putin administration to cause an information resonance. This is done almost confidentially, at the level of trust in conversations with ministers. According to Samus, these individuals were chosen to give this information a powerful impetus to spread, and it succeeded. Everyone is talking about it. This is a fantasy. No Ukrainian "dirty bomb" exists and will never exist.

Sanctions against Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation will stop nuclear blackmail

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted to this information correctly - they invited representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This saga of nuclear threats and provocations by the Russian Federation must end. A tougher reaction is needed, particularly about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. There should be tough sanctions against Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation, we should crack down on the business that the Russians continue to do with the Americans, Turks, French and Hungarians. Rosatom has a comprehensive portfolio of projects in the West, on which they earn a lot of money. Why not tell the partners that Rosatom should be under sanctions and not exist as a business structure? In the opinion of my interlocutor, talks about "dirty bombs" would immediately stop, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant would be freed from Russian troops, and a safe zone would be created.

"Dirty bomb" as an element of propaganda for the Russians

There are no successes of the Russian troops and it is necessary to provide a new level of information background to show: "Here Ukraine is preparing a "dirty bomb", so we need to work more actively to destroy the Kyiv regime." The logic is to prepare Russians who watch TV and cannot understand what is happening. It seems like 2 weeks of massive missile attacks and on TV, they said that Ukraine should freeze, but there is no result. They continue to rake men from the streets, drag them to the front, kill them, and it seems that Kherson is already lost.

The option of dragging the war into the winter will be implemented

It was clear even before the mobilization that Russia would try to drag Ukraine and Europe into a long war. Then there was an attempt to break the fight with missile strikes and mobilization. Preparing a new army in a month or a week is impossible. They failed to create obstacles for the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kherson region in the East and tried to drag our army to the North through Belarus. I think the option of dragging the war into the winter will be implemented. Missile strikes on objects that provide heat and electricity also fit into this theory. Europe has not been frozen. Still, Ukraine will be under pressure, in particular from the point of view of building Russian potential for a possible transfer of the main hostilities to the spring.