British intelligence: russia will claim its occupation of southern Kherson region as evidence of improved living standards for Ukrainians
russia is likely to claim the occupation of the Kherson region as evidence of delivering improved governance and living standards to the Ukrainian people
Rubryka reports, citing a review by the British Ministry of Defense.
The British say the russian army continues to attack Sievierodonetsk from three directions.
The intelligence service stressed that the Ukrainian defense was holding the fort, and it was unlikely that any of the parties had achieved significant success in the last 24 hours.
"While russia is concentrating its offensive on the central Donbas sector, it has remained on the defensive on its flanks," the review said.
Also, the British intelligence noted that recently Ukrainian troops had achieved some success in the counterattack in the south-western Kherson region and regained the foothold on the east bank of the Inhulets River.
"With the frontage of the occupied zone stretching for over 500km, both russia and Ukraine face similar challenges in maintaining a defensive line while freeing up capable combat units for offensive operations," the review said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 8 June 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/LUHrktqXFy
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— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) June 8, 2022
"In the occupied Kherson region, russia is forcibly aligning its administration with that of the russian federation by introducing the russian rouble as legal tender and employing russian teachers to introduce the russian curriculum and language to schools.
russia will highly likely claim its occupation of Kherson as evidence of delivering improved governance and living standards to the Ukrainian people," British intelligence said.
Earlier, British intelligence said that during May, russia had made progress in the Popasna direction, but now its progress in the area stalled.
As Rubryka previously reported, the British intelligence believes the missile attack on Kyiv was likely an attempt to disrupt the supply of Western military equipment.
The day before, the British Ministry of Defense announced the provision of M270 multiple rocket launchers to Ukraine, which can hit targets at a distance of up to 80 km.
Reference
Kherson is the only city of regional significance that russian troops managed to occupy since the beginning of March. The russian forces established the illegal pro-russian administration in the town in April.
By cutting off Kherson region residents from Ukrainian TV, radio, and mobile service, occupiers attempt to isolate the Ukrainian people and try to introduce the rouble and russian passports and organize a pseudo-referendum, repeating the scenario of the Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. For russia, annexing the Kherson region is a key to establishing a land bridge to Crimea.
Since early March, people have gathered in pro-Ukrainian rallies, proving that Kherson is a part of Ukraine. After a few powerful protests, the russian troops began to disperse the gatherings by shooting at people and using stun grenades.
Since the Kherson region has been temporarily occupied, russia's occupation forces have continued kidnapping and torturing civilians, especially local activists, volunteers, and people with an open pro-Ukrainian position. The humanitarian situation in the city is critical, with shortages of Ukrainian medicine and food supplies.
Since the occupation, there has been no official "green" corridor for civilians to evacuate from the region; people have been leaving their homes, risking their own lives. There have been cases when russian soldiers shot civilians in the evacuation convoys.
