«Populations are mined around the perimeter, and people are used as «human shields», Humeniuk about the actions of the Russian army on the Kinburn spit

In order to liberate the Kinburn spit from the Russian invaders, certain circumstances must be artificially created by military calculations. Currently, the Russian army continues to terrorize the local population, using it as a human shield.

Nataliia Humeniuk, head of the joint press center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, told about this in the report of the Radio Liberty project «News of Azov».

«The enemy has connections with the land from the temporarily occupied Kherson Region, he has the opportunity to draw up reserves, drive in and out with his technical support and terrorize the civilian population, which is trapped in these circumstances. Enemies have long mined populated areas around the perimeter so that people cannot go anywhere. The enemy continues to use the locals as human shields, hiding behind them, occasionally stationing themselves in the yards, shelling the adjacent bank of Ochakiv, Kutsurub communities in order to terrorize and distract the attention of the Defense Forces from time to time,» Nataliia Humeniuk said.

The de-occupation of Kinburn is a difficult task, but the Ukrainian troops know how to do it, but they do not discuss or disclose their plans in advance, she notes.

«They (the Russian army, note) are also learning, improving, trying to outwit us. We are in difficult conditions. If they can afford chaotic shelling and shelling of populated areas from their shores, then we cannot afford such work. There must be a coincidence of several circumstances and situations, which will be artificially created by combat calculations. Here it must be understood that the Kinburn spit is separated from that part of the Mykolaiv region, which has already been deoccupied, by the large Dnipro-Buh estuary. This is the way for transport civil shipping to revive Mykolaiv ports. But the enemy is holding on to the scythe in order to put pressure on the economy. That is why they are not going anywhere from there — to continue to control this transport sea corridor,» she said.

As you know, according to the preliminary estimates of the Ukrainian authorities, there are currently about 200 people living on the occupied Kinburn Peninsula, but contact with them has been completely lost.

It is worth noting that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the territory of the Kinburn Spit has been occupied by the Russian military. Earlier, Ukrainian journalists identified the leaders of the «Don» brigade, which is shelling the Ochakiv from the Kinburn spit.

Earlier, Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Dmytro Marchenko stated that the temporarily occupied Kinburn spit in the Mykolayiv region is currently included in the complex of offensive actions.

Last fall, the head of Mykolayiv RMA Vitalii Kim said that the release of the Kinburn spit is a matter of time, «not a very long one».

As of July 2023, the damage caused to the protected territory of the Kinburn spit in Mykolaiv Oblast due to Russia's military aggression amounted to 15.6 billion hryvnias.