The Russian occupying forces announced on Thursday the arrest of around 20 "accomplices" of the Ukrainian army in the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, in southern Ukraine, at the time of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in this area.

The Russian National Guard arrested "in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions 21 accomplices of the Ukrainian armed forces", the occupation administration of Kherson said in a statement on Telegram.

Thirteen grenade launchers, more than 31,000 cartridges of different calibres, 53 grenades and more than 24 kilos of explosives were seized from these people, according to the same source.

In addition, seven mines and artillery shells were defused, the statement added, without further details.

Russian security services have also allegedly dismantled a group of Ukrainian agents in Kherson who provided the Ukrainian army with information on the deployment of Russian forces in this city and its surroundings to guide Ukrainian missile fire, according to a military source. quoted by the public agency Ria Novosti.

This announcement came the day after the Ukrainian strikes which partially destroyed an important bridge in Kherson, strategic and key to supplying Russian forces and the city.

Kherson, capital of the eponymous region, is located just a few kilometers from the front where Ukrainian forces have launched a counter-offensive in order to reconquer these territories lost in the very first days of the Russian offensive against Ukraine.