Russian hold on northeast Ukraine loosens after Kyiv savers supply line

The rapid fall of Izium in Kharkiv province was Moscow’s worst defeat since its withdrawal from the capital Kiev in March and could have proved a turning point in the Six Month War, which attracted thousands of soldiers. Russian Soldier Leaving ammunition and equipment, they flee.

The official TASS news agency quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying it had ordered troops to leave the surrounding area to strengthen operations elsewhere in nearby Donetsk.

TASS reported that the head of the Russian administration in the Kharkiv regions has asked all residents to evacuate the province and flee to Russia to “save lives”. Eyewitnesses described a car jam with people fleeing Russian-controlled territory.

Ukrainian officials refused to confirm they had recaptured Izium, but President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak, released a photo of soldiers on his outskirts. Previously, he tweeted a grape emoji. The name of the city means “raisins”.

The announcement of the Russian withdrawal came hours after Ukrainian troops captured the northern city of Kupyansk, the only rail hub that feeds the entire Russian border in northeastern Ukraine. He saw thousands of Russian soldiers suddenly hungry for supplies in a section of the front that saw some of the most intense fighting of the war.

With their positions remaining on the Eastern Front, there were signs of trouble for Russia elsewhere, with pro-Russian officials acknowledging difficulties elsewhere and Ukrainians pointing to further progress to come.

mechanized attack

Days earlier, Kiev’s forces crossed the front line and have since recaptured dozens of towns and villages in a swift mechanized attack, advancing tens of kilometers per day.

Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian officials posted photos of their soldiers waving the country’s blue and yellow flags outside Kupyansk City Hall, which proved decisive for the Russian garrison provided by the city’s railways. .

TASS quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying: “In order to achieve the stated objectives of the special military operation for the liberation of Donbass, the consolidation of Russian troops located in the districts of Balaklia and Izyum aims to increase efforts in the direction of Donetsk. . It was decided to do so. ” as mentioned.

The Russian army had left Balaklia a few days earlier.

In Harakov, one of the dozen villages conquered by the Ukrainian advance, Reuters saw burnt vehicles bearing the “Z” symbol of the Russian invasion. The boxes full of ammunition were still littered with rubbish hastily thrown by the Russians.

“Hello everyone, we are from Russia” was sprayed on a wall. Three bodies lay in a white body bag in a courtyard.

Regional police chief Volodymyr Tymoshenko said Ukrainian police had moved the day before and checked the identities of local residents who had been under Russian occupation since the second day of the invasion.

“The first task is to provide the assistance they need. The next task is to document the crimes committed by the Russian invaders in the temporarily occupied areas.

Russia backs off

A witness in Valuyki, a city in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, told Reuters he saw several people from Kupiyansk, whose families ate and slept in their cars on the street.

“Today I was at the market and saw many people from Kupiyansk. They say half of the city has been taken by the Ukrainian army and that Russia is retreating … The battle is coming to an end, witness Recounted said.

The sudden abandonment of the Russian front line south of Kharkiv was the biggest change on the battlefield since the collapse of the initial Russian attack on Kiev. This quickly and abruptly ended the period when the war was fought as a relentless toil on a stagnant front, increasing Moscow’s advantage in terms of raw firepower.

Russian forces had worked hard to capture Izium early in the war, so they used the city as a logistical base for one of their main operations: a month-long attack from the north on the nearby Donbass region.

There were indications that Ukraine could benefit from the disorder with attacks in other areas of the Eastern Front. Denis Pushilin, the head of the separatist administration founded by Russia in the Donetsk province, said the situation in Liman, east of Izium, “remains quite difficult, like a series of settlements in the north of the Republic”.

Further east, Ukrainian officials hinted at a possible attempt to capture Lysychansk, which Moscow seized in July after weeks of fighting in one of the bloodiest battles of the war.

Serhi Gaidai, the regional governor of Ukraine, was quoted by the Ukrainian media as saying that Ukrainian soldiers were seen on the outskirts of the city. The town’s name means “fox” and, following Grape’s tweet, Yermak tweeted a fox emoji.

This story was posted unchanged in the text of a news agency feed.