Ukrainian forces continue to make unexpected, rapid advances in the country’s northeast, recapturing more than a third of the occupied Kharkiv region in three days. Many of Ukraine’s territorial gains were confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry on Saturday. “[It] it was a big special disinformation operation,” said Taras Berezovets, a former national security adviser turned press officer for the Bohun brigade of Ukraine’s special forces. “[Russia] they thought they would be in the south and moved their gear. Then, instead of the south, the attack came where they did not expect it, and this caused them to panic and flee.” On August 29, the southern command of Ukraine announced that the long-awaited offensive in the Kherson region had begun. However, soldiers on the Kherson front said at the time that they saw no evidence of the attack in question or that the active fighting that took place was a reaction to an attempted Russian attack several days earlier. Over the past two weeks, Ukrainian forces in the south have captured several villages – no small feat given the reported strength of Russian positions, and one that nonetheless resulted in casualties. But the gains were not markedly different from the steady but limited progress Ukrainian forces had made in the Kherson region in July and August. And yet, the capture of these tiny Chersona villages, with a population of a few thousand, suddenly became big international news. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern administration, had insisted on a “regime of silence” and temporarily banned journalists from visiting the front lines in Kherson. But Berezovets said the media frenzy surrounding the southern attack was a coordinated disinformation campaign by Ukraine targeting Russian forces that had been building up for several months. It was successful in prodding Russia to move equipment and personnel to the southern front, including in part from the Kharkiv region, Berezovets said. “In the meantime [our] the children in Kharkiv were given the best Western weapons, mostly American,” he said. Part of the special operation involved rooting out informers in Ukrainian-controlled areas of Kharkiv to stop them passing on information about Ukraine’s preparations to the Russians, a military source with knowledge of the operation said. “THE [informants] were almost completely cleaned. They were mostly regular Ukrainian citizens, but there were also some Russian agents undercover as Ukrainian citizens,” the source said. “The Russians had no idea what was going on.” Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed the retreat, describing it as a reconstruction. It says it has withdrawn from Izium and the town of Balakliia to “reinforce efforts” on the Donetsk front. “A three-day operation was carried out for the withdrawal and organized transfer of the Izium-Balakliia troop group to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said. “To avoid damage to the Russian troops, a heavy defeat by fire was inflicted on the enemy.” Russian state media and bloggers have confirmed that Russian soldiers have been forced to withdraw on a large scale from Kharkiv. Ukrainian troops have in recent days pushed Russian forces out of a number of settlements in the region held by Moscow since the first days of its invasion. In a video address late Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces had liberated more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region. A local resident of Izium, who prefers to remain anonymous, said that Ukrainian troops entered the town. Before that, “Russian occupation forces were rapidly withdrawing, leaving behind ammunition and equipment.” Ukraine’s recapture of Izium could be its most significant success in repelling the Russians since the start of the invasion. By seizing the nearby town of Kupiansk, Ukrainian forces managed to cut supply lines for Russian formations controlling the Izium region,” said Serhiy Kuzan, a military expert at the Ukrainian Center for Security and Cooperation. Kuzan said the Russian formations in charge of the southeastern region of Kharkiv, dubbed the Izium region by military experts, were professional Russian soldiers, not mercenaries or conscripts from Russian-held Donbas. The offensive was carried out at lightning speed, with a third of occupied Kharkiv captured by Ukrainian forces in just a few days, he said. The UK Ministry of Defense said Ukraine’s counterattack caught Russian forces by surprise, adding that Kiev forces had advanced 50 kilometers (31 miles) along a narrow front line and recaptured or encircled several towns. With Ukrainian operations also continuing in Kherson, the Russian defensive front is under pressure on both its northern and southern flanks,” it said. “We are really surprised by how badly the Russians have retreated,” Kuzan said. “Retreat is part of the art of war. When we retreated, we made sure that they suffered casualties as they advanced and we did it to ensure that they advanced only 1, 2, 3 kilometers. “They were so confident that they didn’t prepare their defenses,” he added. “This showed that the only advantage they have is in the number of artillery and heavy equipment. So all we need is the same amount.” Following Ukraine’s major territorial gains this week, Moscow is sending columns of military reinforcements to the Kharkiv region, according to reports in Russian media.
