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Izium, Sept. 14 (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy witnessed the Ukrainian flag being raised over the recaptured city of Izium on Wednesday, outside the capital A rare attempt was made to highlight Moscow’s awkward retreat from Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Last week, Russian troops left the war-torn city and soldiers in Kyiv made astonishing progress reclaiming large swathes of territory in northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
As Zelensky watched and sang the national anthem, the Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the burned town hall. Nearly six months after Russian occupation, Izium was badly damaged, with apartment buildings blackened by fire and potholes hit by artillery fire.
A large hole and pile of rubble stood where a building collapsed.
Also read | Poland wants Russia to return paintings looted by the Soviet Red Army during World War II.
“The sight was very shocking, but not shocking to me,” Zelensky told reporters, “because we started seeing the same photos from Buha, from the first occupied territories… The same destroyed buildings, killing people.”
Bucha, a small city on the outskirts of Kyiv, was evacuated by Russian troops in March. Ukrainian authorities have since found the bodies of hundreds of civilians dumped in streets, yards and mass graves. Many had signs of torture.
Prosecutors say so far they have found six bodies with signs of torture in the recently recaptured villages of the Kharkiv region. Oleksandr Filchakov, head of the Kharkiv prosecutor’s office, said the bodies were found in the villages of Hrakove and Zaliznyche, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) southeast of the city of Kharkiv.
“We have a terrible understanding of what the occupiers are doing. …Cities like Baraklia, Izium are in the same row as Butcha, Boroyanka, Irpin,” Ukraine’s Attorney General Andrey Kostin said he cited places where Ukrainians have accused Russian troops of atrocities.
Local authorities made similar claims in other areas previously controlled by Russia, but could not immediately verify their information. They have yet to provide evidence that the possible atrocities could be on the scale described by Boucha, and the number and conditions of civilian casualties have prompted the international community to demand that Russian officials face war crimes charges.
Moscow’s recent rout in northeastern Ukraine was the biggest military defeat since the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv region a few months ago. On the northern outskirts of Izium, the remains of Russian tanks and vehicles are strewn across a road.
When Zelensky visited, his forces stepped up their counteroffensive, recaptured mines and investigated possible war crimes. He said “life is back” as Ukrainian soldiers return to previously occupied villages.
Ukrainian troops are preparing to retake the region, which borders the Kharkiv region and has been under Russian control since July, the governor of eastern Ukraine’s Luhansk region, Serchy Heyday, said. According to Haidai, mobile internet services were disrupted and the heavy shelling of the Ukrainian army continued.
He told The Associated Press that Ukrainian partisans flew Ukrainian flags in the cities of Svatov and Starobirsk.
But in Crimena, another city where Ukrainians raised the flag, the Russians returned on Wednesday and “ripped off the (Ukrainian) flag and made it clear that they were there,” Hayday said.
A separatist military leader confirmed Ukraine’s offensive in the Luhansk region. Local militia officer Andrei Marochko said on Russian television that the situation was “very difficult”.
“In some places, the line of contact is already very close to the border of the Luhansk People’s Republic,” said Marochko, referring to the independent state proclaimed by separatists eight years ago.
The counteroffensive left more weapons in the hands of Ukraine.
Russian troops may have left dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy weapons behind as they fled Ukraine and pushed eastward, a Ukrainian think tank said on Wednesday.
The Center for Defense Strategy said a Russian force that fled the Izim area left behind three dozen T-80 tanks and about as many infantry fighting vehicles. Another unit left 47 tanks and 27 armored vehicles.
The center said Russian troops tried to destroy some abandoned vehicles by shelling as they retreated. Often, the armed forces destroy legacy equipment so their adversaries cannot use it.
However, the chaos of Russia’s withdrawal apparently forced them to abandon untouched ammunition and weapons.
With recent progress in Ukraine, a new front has emerged along the Osskir River that largely traces the eastern edge of the Kharkiv region, the Washington-based Institute for War Institute said on Wednesday.
“It is unlikely that Russian forces will be strong enough to prevent further Ukrainian offensives along the entire Oskil River as they do not appear to be receiving reinforcements, and if the Ukrainian army wishes, they may well be able to exploit this weakness throughout the Oskil River. Resume the counteroffensive,” the institute said.
Elsewhere, Russia continued its attacks, inflicting more casualties in the nearly seven-month-old war.
At least seven civilians have been killed and 22 injured in Russian shelling in seven regions of Ukraine in the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s presidential office reported Wednesday morning.
Regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said Russia attacked Mykolaiv with S-300 missiles overnight, killing two and wounding three. The settlements near the front line in the Mykolaiv area remained under attack.
Regional Governor Valentin Reznichenko said the Nikopol region, across the river from the closed Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, was shelled three times during the night, with no immediate reports of casualties.
Fighting was also intense in eastern Donetsk, with shelling killing five civilians and injuring 16 others. Together, Luhansk and Donetsk formed the Donbass, an industrial area that Moscow set out to occupy after its unsuccessful invasion of Kyiv.
The Russian military is targeting critical infrastructure. Eight cruise missiles aimed at the water system hit the city of Kryvyi Rih, 150 kilometers (93 miles) southeast of Dnipro. Deputy Chief of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported on his Telegram channel.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the Ukrainian military had made “significant progress” in recent days, but said, “I think it’s going to be a long process.”
While Russian criticism of the invasion appears to be growing, German Chancellor Olaf Schultz said after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Unfortunately, I can’t tell you, there is now awareness there. It was a mistake to start this war.”
The Ukrainian government received more aid on Wednesday as military and economic support from the West has allowed Ukraine to continue fighting since Russia’s invasion on February 24.
An international group of creditors including the United States has finalized a deal to suspend Ukraine’s debt repayments until the end of 2023, helping the country ease liquidity pressures and boost social, health and economic spending. (Associated Press)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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