Russia said Wednesday for the first time that some Ukrainian troops had established positions on the Russian-held side of the Dnipro river, the vast waterway that splits the frontline in southern Ukraine.
A sustained Ukrainian breakthrough across the river would be a significant tactical success, coming as Kyiv's wider counteroffensive has failed to turn the tide of the 21-month war.
"Small groups" of Ukrainian soldiers were stretched along the eastern bank of the Dnipro river, and had been "blocked" in Krynky, a tiny village on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river, the Moscow-installed head of Ukraine's Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo, said in a post on Telegram.
But he insisted they were facing a "fiery hell" from Russian artillery, rockets and drones, and were suffering heavy losses.
Russian and Ukrainian forces have been entrenched on opposite sides of the Dnipro river since Moscow withdrew from the western part of Ukraine's Kherson region last November.
That was the last major territorial change in the conflict, with both sides having since failed to make any significant progress despite staging multiple offensives.
Ukrainian troops have made repeated attempts to cross to the Russian-controlled eastern -- or left -- bank of the river and establish a foothold to try to further push Russian troops out of Ukrainian territory.
Russia's Saldo said Wednesday that "about one and a half enemy companies, mostly in small groups," were currently on the Russian-held side.
According to Russia's TASS news agency, a company in the Russian military system consists of 45-360 soldiers.
- 'Fiery hell' -
"Our additional forces have now been deployed. The enemy is blocked in Krynky. A fiery hell has been arranged for them: bombs, rockets, heavy flamethrower systems, artillery shells and drones are flying at them," Saldo said.
His comments are the first admission by a senior Russian official that Ukraine had managed to secure some positions on the Russian-controlled side of the river.
AFP was not able to verify his reports and the scale of Ukraine's crossing was unclear.
Since mid-October, Russian military bloggers close to the armed forces have been reporting that small groups of Ukrainian troops had successfully crossed the river.
The Kremlin earlier this week refused to comment on those reports, saying Russia's defence ministry should answer questions about the topic.
Russia's defence ministry has also not commented on the reports, but said separately that it had captured a small group of Ukrainian soldiers "trying to land on the left bank".
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said Tuesday that Ukrainian forces had "gained a foothold on the left bank of the Dnipro," without providing further details.
- Static frontline -
Krynky, where Saldo said the Ukrainians had been trapped, is a small village around 35 kilometres (22 miles) to the east and upstream of the city of Kherson.
Holding and strengthening any position on the Russian-controlled side of the Dnipro river could present a tough challenge for Ukrainian troops. Boggy, swamp-like terrain makes amphibious landings difficult, and Russia has significant manpower and equipment available to it on that side of the river.
Saldo said Ukraine had only been able to cross the river by "throwing meat" -- a euphemism for military assaults that involve huge numbers of manpower and encounter heavy losses.
Both Kyiv and Moscow regularly claim to have killed high numbers of "enemy" soldiers, though neither comment on their own losses.
Despite a relatively static frontline, both Zelensky and the Kremlin have denied that the conflict has ground to a stalemate.
Zelensky said Tuesday that Russian attacks were intensifying and has repeatedly warned that he expects Russia to up its missile strikes on Ukraine's energy facilities ahead of winter.
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