Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials said Saturday they made significant progress in a counteroffensive opposed to Russian forces in the country’s northeast and said Ukrainian troops had cut off important materials at the frontline access point.
The reports followed several days of evident advances across Ukraine south of Kharkiv, the country’s largest city at the moment, in what could be the greatest battlefield luck for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to capture the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the joust. about the seven-month war.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko reported that Ukrainian troops had retaken Kupiansk, a town along the main source in the direction of Izyum, long a target on the Russian front line and the site of heavy artillery and other fighting. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing Ukrainian infantrymen. The 92nd Mechanized Battalion separated itself from what it said is a government construction in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers (45 miles) north of Izyum.
Ukraine’s Security Service, known as SBU, issued a message a few hours later saying it showed its forces in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been seized by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian army did not immediately verify its access to the city. , a railway junction that Russia seized in February, when its mayor surrendered to civilian casualties.
Later on Saturday, videos began circulating on social media, which also appeared to show Ukrainian forces on the rural outskirts of Izyum at a traffic checkpoint. In the pictures, you can notice a giant statue with the call of the city. Ukrainian forces have not declared supporting the people.
Earlier on Saturday, the British Defence Ministry said it believed the Ukrainians had a complex up to 50 kilometres (30 mi) south of Kharkiv, describing Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated”.
“Russian forces were probably taken by surprise. The domain was only slightly controlled and Ukrainian outfits captured or surrounded several cities,” the British army said, adding that the loss of Kupiansk would particularly affect Russian lines of origin in the region.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, also referred to Ukraine’s abundant gains and estimated that Kyiv seized some 2500 square kilometers (965 square miles) of its advance in the northeast. The institute said it gave the impression that “Disorganized Russian forces (were) caught up in ukraine’s immediate advance. “They cited social media footage of obvious Russian prisoners taking the advance around Izyum and surrounding cities.
The same report states that Ukrainian forces “could collapse in Russian positions around Izyum if they cut off Russian ground communication” north and south of the city.
Moscow did not acknowledge or comment on the claims of Ukraine and its Western allies. However, Vladislav Sokolov, head of the Russian-appointed local administration, said on social media that the Izyum government had begun evacuating citizens to Russia.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine comes amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts recommend that Russia would possibly have brought infantrymen from the east to the outskirts of Kherson, giving the Ukrainians the opportunity to attack a weakened front line.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Ukraina TV that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the region because Kyiv had cut their lines.
“It will be like an avalanche,” he said, predicting a Russian withdrawal. A line of will will tremble and fall. “
The Ukrainian military was more wary of reported gains and claimed in its normal update on Saturday that it had taken “more than 1,000 square kilometers” (386 square miles) from pro-Kremlin forces this week. He said that “in some areas, the Defence Forces joints penetrated enemy defences at an intensity of 50 kilometres,” coinciding with the British assessment, but did not reveal geographical details.
Kyiv officials have been silent for weeks about plans for a counteroffensive to retake territory invaded by Russia at the start of the war, and have called on citizens to share information on social media.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday in an evening video that Ukrainian troops have retaken more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the counteroffensive began.
“We are gradually taking more settlements, returning the Ukrainian flag and protecting our people,” Zelenskyy said.
He spoke after the Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv announced that the national flag had been hoisted over Balakliia, a city retaken Thursday by Ukrainian troops after six months of Russian occupation.
“Balaklia is Ukraine! Today, in combination with the army, led by the commander of the armed forces Oleksandr Syrskyy, we have raised the Ukrainian flag,” Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
Elsewhere, the Ukrainian emergency reported that a 62-year-old woman was killed in a Russian missile attack in the Kharkiv region overnight. He said his body was discovered buried in the rubble of his home, which was razed to the ground during the attack.
Syniehubov also accused Moscow of destroying the settlements recovered through its recent advances in Kyiv, as well as other residential spaces in the region. He said in a Telegram article that five civilians had been hospitalized in Izyum district, while nine others had been injured elsewhere in the region. .
In the besieged Donbass region, south of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian governor said civilians were killed and wounded overnight by Russian shelling near the town of Bakhmut, a key target of the stalled Russian offensive in that region. Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Telegram that two other people were killed and two others injured in Bakhmut and the nearby village of Yahidne.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for an unannounced visit and said Europe will not tire of helping Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to generate tension by withholding energy materials from European Union countries.
Baerbock said Germany would help Ukraine locate and remove mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in the spaces where they were repelled by Ukrainian forces.
Despite the progress made through Ukraine’s armed forces, the U. S. Secretary of State has made in the U. S. U. S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and NATO leader warned Friday that Ukraine’s fight against Russia appears to drag on for months. Blinken said the war was entering a critical era and suggested Ukraine’s Western donors to keep their aid what can be a complicated winter.
Kozlowska reported from London. Associated Press Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.