What Kherson mean for Ukraine, Russia?

Kherson was the first major city to fall to Russia after Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now it has become the focus of a reported counteroffensive by Kyiv's forces to take it back.

Ukrainian claims of new attacks on Russian positions around the strategic southern port city at the mouth of the Dnieper River's exit into the Black Sea have spurred speculation that the long-awaited attempt to seize back the region and its capital was underway.

"Retaking the occupied territory of the Kherson province on the west bank of the Dnieper would be a major psychological and political win for Kyiv," said Peter Rutland, professor of Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, at Wesleyan University, Connecticut

"The city of Kherson is the only provincial capital to have fallen into Russian hands. It would also make it much harder for the Russians to launch an offensive to take Odesa," he told Newsweek.

"However that would still leave a large swathe of Russian occupied territory on the east bank of the Dnieper, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station."

On August 30, Ukraine's presidential office reported that there had been "powerful explosions" and "tough battles" in the region during the day and night. The report said that Ukrainian forces had destroyed ammunition depots and all large bridges across the Dnieper River needed to bring supplies to Russian troops.

Russian news agency TASS said on the same day that there had been five explosions in Kherson which were likely to have been caused by air defence systems at work.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military's Operation Command South also reported destroying a pontoon crossing the Dnieper as well as a dozen command posts in the Kherson region on August 30.