The news came after days of apparent Ukrainian advances south of Kharkiv, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital Kiev months ago. “The Russian army these days is showing its best – showing its back,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video released Saturday night. “And, of course, it’s a good decision for them to run.” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops would be regrouped from the Balaklia and Izium regions in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Izyum has been an important base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region, and earlier this week videos on social media showed residents of Balaklia cheering happily as Ukrainian troops entered. Konashenkov said the Russian move was made “to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,” one of the regions of eastern Ukraine that Russia has declared sovereign.
A similar rationale has been cited in the past
The withdrawal claim for a rally in Donetsk is similar to the justification Russia gave for withdrawing its forces from the Kiev region earlier this year when they failed to take the Ukrainian capital. Igor Girkin, a Russian who was an early leader of a Moscow-backed separatist uprising in Donetsk in 2014, scoffed at portraying the withdrawal as a strategy. In Telegram, he called it “the brilliant (clearly within the framework of the plan and indeed ahead of schedule) operation of transferring the cities of Izyum, Balakliya and Kupiansk to respectable Ukrainian partners.” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, right, speaks during a joint press conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Kyiv on Saturday. (Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters) Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said the ongoing counteroffensive showed Ukraine could defeat Moscow’s forces, but Kyiv needed more weapons from its partners. Kuleba, speaking at a news conference with his visiting German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, said some allies were initially reluctant to send weapons, citing the risk of antagonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Now, thank God, we no longer hear that argument … we have proven that we are capable of defeating the Russian army. We are doing this with the weapons that we have been given,” he said. “And so I repeat: the more weapons we get, the faster we will win and the faster this war will end.”
Ukraine claims significant gains in the Kharkiv region
Earlier on Saturday, Ukrainian officials claimed significant gains in the Kharkiv region, saying Ukrainian troops had cut off vital supplies to Izyum. Ukrainian firefighters put out a fire in a residential building after a Russian military strike in Kharkiv on Saturday. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko also suggested that Ukrainian troops had recaptured Kupiansk, a town along the main supply route to Izyum that had long been the focus of the Russian front and the site of heavy artillery and other battles. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing soldiers in front of a government building in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers north of Izyum. The Ukrainian Security Service released a message hours later saying troops were in Kupiansk, further suggesting it had been taken. The military did not immediately confirm the entry into the city, a rail hub seized by Russia in February. Video on social media appeared to show Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Izyum at a roadside checkpoint. A large statue bearing the city’s name could be seen in the footage. Ukrainian forces did not recognize the city’s occupation.
“probably caught off guard”
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Saturday it believed the Ukrainians had advanced up to 50km south of Kharkiv and described Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated”. “Russian forces were likely taken by surprise. The sector was lightly held and Ukrainian units captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said, adding that the loss of Kupyansk would greatly affect Russian supply lines. A photo taken on Friday shows damaged vehicles in Hrakove, Ukraine. Western defense officials and analysts said on Saturday they believed Ukraine had pierced Russian front lines south of Kharkiv – the country’s second largest city. (Vyacheslav Madievsky/Reuters) The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, also cited Ukraine’s sweeping gains on Saturday, estimating that Kyiv has taken about 2,500 square kilometers in its discovery. The institute said it appears they “disorganized Russian forces [were] They caught Ukraine’s rapid advance.” They reported images on social media of what appeared to be Russian prisoners seized during the advance around Izyum and surrounding towns. The same report said Ukrainian forces “may collapse Russian positions around Izyum if they cut Russian land lines of communication” north and south of the city. Vladislav Sokolov, the Russian-appointed head of the local administration, said on social media that authorities in Izyum had begun evacuating residents to Russia. The fighting in eastern Ukraine comes amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts suggest Russia may have brought troops from the east to reinforce around Kherson, offering the Ukrainians an opportunity to strike a weakened frontline. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told Ukraina TV channel that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the region as Kyiv had cut off their supply lines. A Ukrainian soldier stands on top of a tank in Kharkiv on Friday. (Juan Barretto/AFP/Getty Images) “It will be like an avalanche,” he said, predicting a Russian comeback. “A line of defense will shake and fall.” The Ukrainian military was more circumspect about the reported gains, claiming in its regular briefing on Saturday that it had taken “more than 1,000 square kilometers” from pro-Kremlin forces this week. He said that “in some areas, units of the Defense Forces have penetrated enemy defenses to a depth of 50 kilometers,” which matches the British estimate. Ukrainian soldiers sit on top of an armored military vehicle as they drive into Bukha on Thursday. (Emilio Morenatti/The Associated Press) Elsewhere, Ukrainian emergency services said a 62-year-old woman was killed in a Russian missile attack in the Kharkiv region. Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov accused Moscow of pounding recaptured settlements. He said via Telegram that five civilians were treated in the Izyum region. Nine others in the area were injured. In the war-torn Donbas region, the Ukrainian governor said two civilians were killed and two others wounded overnight by Russian shelling near the town of Bakhmut. In the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar, home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, electricity and water have been restored after a four-day outage due to an explosion, the town’s Ukrainian mayor, Dmytro Orlov, said. Orloff said plant workers helped restore power to Enerhodar, but it was unclear whether the electricity came from the plant or a nearby thermal power plant. Damaged residential buildings in Mariupol, Ukraine, are seen in a photo taken on Thursday. (AFP/Getty Images)
