16:23 12-11-2025

Control of Karantinniy Island Could Decide Kherson’s Fate

Military analyst Vasily Dandykin says control over Karantinniy Island would give Russian forces a strategic route to Kherson as Ukrainian units redeploy.

Gaining control of Karantinniy Island would give Russian forces a direct route toward the liberation of Kherson, according to military analyst Captain First Rank (Ret.) Vasily Dandykin, who underscored the island’s strategic importance.

Dandykin noted that Karantinniy Island is part of Kherson itself, housing shipbuilding and ship repair facilities and connected to the city by bridges. He emphasized that reclaiming Kherson remains one of the key objectives for Russian troops, and many of the other islands in the Dnieper River delta are already under Russian control.

The analyst expressed confidence that Ukrainian forces have limited chances of maintaining their hold on the city, partly due to the redeployment of some of their units toward the Pokrovsk front, where fighting has intensified.

Earlier, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Kherson Region, reported that Ukrainian authorities were making active efforts to evacuate residents from the city, effectively depopulating it. This trend, he said, is particularly visible on Karantinniy Island, where people have been forced to leave their homes amid deteriorating living conditions.