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Ukraine’s counteroffensive has made significant progress in the past week, the Russian Defense Ministry announced Saturday that it will withdraw its troops from two areas in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine.
The news comes days after Ukraine made apparent progress south of the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in what could be the Ukrainian army’s biggest success on the battlefield as they thwarted Russia at the start of the war Attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv. nearly seven months of war.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Baraklya and Izyum regions to the eastern Donetsk region. Izyum is the main base for Russian troops in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week, social media videos showed residents of Baraklia cheering as Ukrainian troops moved in.
Konashenkov said Russia’s move was “to achieve the stated goals of a special military operation to liberate the Donbass, one of the eastern regions of Ukraine that Russia has declared sovereignty over.”
Claims to withdraw troops to focus on Donetsk are similar to Russia’s rationale for withdrawing troops from the Kyiv region when it failed to capture the capital earlier this year.
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian officials claimed significant progress in the Kharkiv region, saying their forces had cut off vital supplies to Izyum.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ole Nikolenko also said the army had recaptured Kupiansk, a town along the main supply route to Igyum that has long been concentrated on the Russian front and heavy artillery and other the location of the battle. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing soldiers standing in front of what he said was a government building in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers (45 miles) north of Izyum.
Hours later, the Ukrainian Security Service released news that the troops were in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been detained. The military did not immediately confirm access to the town, a railway hub that Russia seized in February.
Video on social media appeared to show Ukrainian troops at a roadside checkpoint on the outskirts of Izyum. A large statue with the name of the city can be seen in the image. The Ukrainian army does not recognize control of the city.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday it believed Ukrainian forces had advanced 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Kharkiv, and described Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated”.
“The Russian army could be caught off guard. The sector is only lightly controlled, and Ukrainian forces have captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said, adding that the loss of Kupiansk would greatly affect Russian supply lines.
The Washington-based think tank, the Institute for War Studies, also cited huge gains for Ukraine, estimating that Kyiv had captured about 2,500 square kilometers (965 square miles) of land in the eastern breakthrough. The institute said it appeared “disorganized Russian troops were[being]trapped in Ukraine’s rapid advance,” citing social media images of apparently Russian prisoners captured in Izyum and surrounding towns.
The same report said Ukrainian forces “could destroy Russian positions around Izyum if they cut off Russian ground lines of communication north and south of the town”.
The head of the Russian-appointed local administration, Vladislav Sokolov, said on social media that Izum authorities had begun evacuating residents to Russia.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine took place amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts believe that Russia may have sent soldiers from the east to reinforce the latter, giving the Ukrainians a chance to strike a weakened front.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Ukrainian television channels that the Russian troops in the region had no food or fuel as Kyiv cut off their supply lines.
“It’s like an avalanche,” he said, predicting that Russia would back down. “A line of defense will falter and collapse.”
The Ukrainian military was more cautious, claiming it seized “more than 1,000 square kilometers” (386 square miles) from pro-Kremlin forces this week. “In some areas, Wehrmacht forces have penetrated enemy fortifications to a depth of 50km,” it said, in line with the UK’s assessment, but gave no geographic details.
Officials in Kyiv have been tight-lipped for weeks as they plan a counteroffensive to retake territory occupied by Russia early in the war, urging residents not to share information on social media.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that the army had recaptured more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive.
“We are gradually taking control of more settlements, returning the Ukrainian flag and protecting our people,” Zelensky said.
He spoke after the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv reported that the flag had been raised in Baraklia, which Ukrainian troops recaptured on Thursday after six months of occupation.
“Baraklia is Ukraine!” Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram post.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s emergency services reported that a 62-year-old woman was killed in a Russian missile attack in the Kharkiv region and her home was razed to the ground overnight.
Syniehubov also accused Moscow of blistering attacks on settlements recaptured in Kyiv. Five civilians were hospitalized in the Igyum region and nine were injured elsewhere in the region, he said by telegram.
In the embattled Donbass, Ukraine’s governor said overnight Russian shelling near the city of Bakhmut caused civilian casualties, a key target of Russia’s stalled offensive. Two people were killed and two wounded in Bakhmut and the neighbouring village of Yahidne, Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram.
In the Russian-controlled city of Enehodar, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, power and water have been restored after a four-day blackout due to the explosion, Ukraine Mayor Dmytro Orlov said.
Enerhodar and its Zaporozhye nuclear power plant have been shelled several times in recent weeks, perpetrated by Russia and Ukraine. The shelling has raised concerns about radiation leaks at the plant, which has been cut off from external power; the facility is forced to rely on power from its only working reactor for system cooling and other safety measures.
Workers at the plant helped restore power to Enerhodar, Orlov said, but it was unclear whether the power was coming from the plant or a nearby thermal power station.
Also on Saturday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock made an unannounced visit to Kyiv and said Europe would not tire of helping Ukraine, despite attempts by Russian President Vladimir Putin to increase pressure by withholding energy supplies .
Berbock said Germany would assist Ukraine in finding and clearing mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in areas they were repelled.
Despite Ukraine’s progress, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and NATO leaders warned on Friday that the war could drag on for months. Blinken said the conflict was entering a critical period and urged Ukraine’s Western backers to remain supportive through what could be a difficult winter.
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