Ukrainian officials on Wednesday said their military secured a beachhead on the east side of the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine, a potentially major breakthrough in the country’s counteroffensive that has struggled for months against Russian forces.

The push across the Dnieper could open the way for Kyiv to transfer artillery and air defense systems to the eastern side of the river, where Russian forces have held a line in eastern Ukraine since shortly after invading the country in February 2022.

Analysts say that if the advance by Ukrainian forces holds, it could pave the way for a push toward the Crimean Peninsula, a stronghold that Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and occupies.

“Against all odds, Ukraine’s Defense Forces have gained a foothold on the left (east) bank of the Dnieper,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in an address to the Hudson Institute, according to Reuters.

Mr. Yermak’s remarks to the Washington-based think tank were posted on Mr. Zelenskyy’s website, the news agency reported.

The BBC noted that Russian forces retreated a year ago from territory they had held on the west side of the Dnieper and that the Ukrainian army has been trying to hold a bridgehead on the river’s eastern shore.

The British news outlet reported that Russia has admitted that some Ukrainian forces have set up positions in a village on the eastern side, but claims the positions will soon be wiped out.

Reuters noted that Russian state news agencies published alerts Monday saying Moscow was moving troops to “more favorable positions” east of the Dnieper, only to withdraw the information minutes later. Moscow has been known to circulate similar messaging on troop movements to describe retreats.

• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.