Ukraine claimed to have regained territory in its eastern regions in the most successful counter-attacks since troops repelled an assault on Kyiv and the north-east by Russian forces in the first months of the war.
The territorial gains have been made while Moscow is focused on repelling Ukraine’s southern counter-offensive around Kherson and could weaken Russia’s hold on the Donbas region, analysts said.
“This week we have good news from the Kharkiv region . . . you all have already seen reports about the activity of Ukrainian defenders,” Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his daily video address. The comments follow reports including videos on social media depicting Ukrainian soldiers liberating the city of Balakliia and nearby villages in eastern Kharkiv province.
The area lies near the city of Izyum, the base for one of Russia’s largest concentration of forces. The advance boosts Kyiv’s hopes of cutting supply lines to those troops, which are focused on trying to fully capture the eastern Donbas region.
Zelenskyy did not name the recaptured cities or towns, saying “now is not the time to name the settlements to which the Ukrainian flag returns”.
“The total area of the territory returned to Ukraine in the Kharkiv and [Kherson] directions exceeds 700 sq km,” said Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov, deputy chief of the operational unit at Ukraine’s general staff, indicating the attacks were the first stage of a counter-offensive designed to push the Russians back east of the Dnipro river before winter.
Russian officials have not acknowledged the eastern losses, but local leaders installed by Russia to govern occupied areas have reported bloody battles in the area.
Vitaly Ganchev, head of the “military-civil administration” for Russian-occupied areas in the Kharkiv region, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had attempted to encircle and seize Balakliia, but claimed they had been repulsed. “The city is under our control,” he told Russian state television.
However, bloggers and commentators embedded with Russian forces have reported recent defeats for President Vladimir Putin’s troops in the east.
The attacks have taken place at the same time as Kyiv launched its southern offensive, following weeks of long-range rocket attacks and artillery strikes. The equipment, provided by western allies, has proved crucial in destroying weapons depots, logistics and command posts in occupied territories.
US secretary of state Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Thursday to meet Zelenskyy. The Biden administration announced its intention to distribute military aid worth $2.2bn to Ukraine and 18 other European countries threatened by Russia. Washington has provided Kyiv with more than $14.5bn in military assistance since Moscow launched its invasion in February.
Separately, Washington has approved $675mn in military support for Kyiv, US defence secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday during a meeting of western and Ukrainian defence chiefs at Ramstein air base, Germany. The aid includes ammunition for long-range rocket systems, additional Howitzers and artillery, armoured vehicles and other weapons.
“Ukrainian armed forces have inspired the world with their determination to defend their democracy [against] Russia’s reckless and ruthless war of choice,” Austin said.
“We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems” provided in military assistance packages by the US and its allies, said General Mark Milley, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said at the airbase.
“The Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the Himars [high-mobility artillery rocket systems] and they’ve had devastating effect,” he added.
Taras Berezovets, a communications officer in a brigade of Ukraine’s special forces, posted on Thursday a video of himself touring abandoned Russian positions and vehicles near the liberated village of Bairak on the outskirts of Balakliia.
“They dumped their uniforms and all of their stuff” before fleeing, a Ukrainian soldier told him at an abandoned Russian fortification. Both claimed the enemy troops fled in civilian clothing in an attempt to avoid capture. The footage also showed Ukrainian soldiers gathering stocks of weapons left behind by Russian forces and tearing down a Soviet flag.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War suggested on Thursday that Ukraine had taken advantage of the fact that Russia had recently moved forces south.
“Ukraine’s operations in Kherson [region] have forced Russian forces to shift their focus to the south, enabling Ukrainian forces to launch localised but highly effective counter-attacks in the Izyum area,” it added.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz in Washington
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2022-09-08 13:16:31Z
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