- Ukrainian and Russian forces are battling each other for islands in the Dnipro River, UK intel said.
- Both sides have "launched raids with teams in small boats," said the UK's Ministry of Defense.
Ukrainian and Russian forces fighting in Moscow's war against Kyiv are battling each other for small islands in the sprawling Dnipro River as a way to distract from the fierce combat on the front lines, British intelligence said on Tuesday.
The UK's Ministry of Defense said in a daily intelligence update that "heavy fighting" has continued in September around the islands in the lower Dnipro River of Ukraine's Kherson Oblast region, which it says "currently marks the front line" of the war.
Ukrainian and Russian troops have "launched raids with teams in small boats against the islands and against the opposite riverbanks," the UK's Ministry of Defense said.
According to the UK intel, the amount of forces involved is smaller compared to other fronts, but "both sides see the area as strategically important."
"It also provides the opportunity to draw their adversary's units away from the intense combat in Zaporishshia and Donetsk oblasts," the British intelligence said.
In June, Ukraine launched its counteroffensive to reclaim Russian-occupied territory in the east and south of the country, but it's been largely slow-moving.