Original subtitles

The Ukrainian military continues a counterattack in the Kherson region.

However, active advance has slowed due to weather conditions.

Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov spoke about this in an interview.

Now Ukraine is in the third stage of the war.

During the first stage, the goal was to stop the invaders' offensive, during the second

- to stabilize the front, and during the third - to conduct a counteroffensive operation

in different directions.

First, the AFU actively counterattacked in the Kharkov region, and now - in the south

of the country, in particular in the Kherson direction.

"Now because of certain weather conditions, rains, we have slowed down a bit.

But we are using the tactic of liberating our settlements step by step and kilometer

by kilometer.

And we will continue to do so."

The Ukrainian armed forces control all the bridges across the Dnieper River using various

American systems like HIMARS, as well as other MLRS like M270, 155mm caliber artillery - all

these are modern NATO standard systems like the M777 from the US.

For them to stay in Kherson is a real risk, because they won't have a chance to escape,

as they did in the Kharkiv direction, for example in Izyum and other cities.

They have only two options left in the current situation: to escape or get surrounded with

all the consequences, I think they will escape," the minister said.

The Russian army turned out to be a "paper tiger," and the Ukrainian military showed

on the battlefield that in fact the Russian army is not the second strongest in the world.

Before the invasion, almost no one doubted the strength of the Russian army and many

gave Ukraine 72 hours to capitulate.

You can see the result now for yourself.

At the same time, the head of military intelligence of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, believes that

Russia only creates the illusion with its statements about evacuation that everything

is lost in captured Kherson, while in fact the occupants are preparing to defend themselves.

According to him, right now Russian troops are not escaping from Kherson - they are preparing

for defense and creating the illusion that all is lost.

And at the same time, on the contrary, they are putting new military units there and preparing

the streets of the city for defense.

They are also preparing the way for a quick withdrawal from the city, if necessary.

They will have to leave the city very quickly and exit, or they risk ending up in the situation

that our units in Mariupol found themselves in before.

The situation is somewhat different, but conceptually it will be very similar.