Russian military fear AFU may force Dnieper River, looking for boats for occupiers – ISW

The so-called Russian military correspondents fear the possibility of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) forcing the Dnieper River into the Kherson Region. They call for an increase in the number of small river vessels and equipment on the Dnieper River to prevent Ukraine's further advance.

This is reported by analysts of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in their report.

Thus, on July 2, the Russian military asked the leaders of the republics of Dagestan and Tatarstan, Astrakhan Region, Krasnodar, and Primorsky Krai to send boats confiscated from poachers to the front line in Kherson Region, noting that ten regiments and brigades of the Southern Military District Dnipro "these vessels are urgently needed." The head of the Republic of Dagestan, Sergey Melikov, responded to the appeal of bloggers on July 3 and ordered to resolve the issue of handing over the confiscated poaching boats to the Russian occupation forces.

One of the Russian military commanders called for the revival of the Dnieper River flotilla, a special military river unit that participated in the Russian-Turkish wars of 1735-1739 and 1787-1792, the civil war in Russia, and World War II. He claims that the revived Dnipro flotilla could significantly improve the position of Russian troops on the Kherson Axis and that this group could be reinforced with simple civilian boats.

"The general alarming reaction of Russian pro-war bloggers to recent Ukrainian activity on the Dnieper indicates that they fear Ukraine's ability to force the river and believe that the current command of the Dnipro group has not sufficiently prepared its troops for such a potential," analysts write.

Earlier, ISW reported that Russian military personnel accused the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of unpreparedness of their troops on the east coast and inability to provide the necessary boats and other equipment. They have now turned their requests for additional logistical support to the regional leaders.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on June 28, ISW analysts said that the Ukrainian military had probably crossed to the left bank of the Dnieper River and occupied a number of positions in the area of the Antonivskyi Bridge.

And yesterday, July 1, ISW analysts noted that Russian military bloggers have been complaining for the past two weeks about the inability of Russian troops to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Antonivskyi Bridge area.

A video of an enemy rocket attack on the Antonivskyi Bridge appeared.

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