Ukrainian troops have moved north, reportedly recapturing towns as far as the Russian border, and a video has emerged of a Ukrainian soldier in the center of the strategic city of Izium as a week-long counteroffensive continues in the country’s northeast. The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that “the enemy is hastily abandoning their positions and fleeing deep into the previously occupied territories” and that “in some areas of the front, our defenders have reached the state border.” Russia responded by launching missile strikes that knocked out power and water to the city of Kharkiv for the second time in less than 24 hours, both hitting on Monday morning just hours after city authorities had restored 80 percent of services utilities that had been interrupted during the night. Ukraine also said Russia had engaged in 18 missile and 39 airstrikes overnight. At least four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in Russian attacks in nine regions, the presidential office in Kyiv added. A Ukrainian lawmaker, Inna Sovsun, said on Monday that four “bodies with signs of torture” were found by war crimes investigators in a recently liberated village in the Kharkiv region. Other civilian bodies were recovered after Russian troops had left the area, he added. An official in Izium said at least 1,000 residents had died as a result of six months of fighting, but warned the actual number could be much higher. Maksym Strelnikov, a city councilor, said the city’s medical facilities and 80 percent of its infrastructure had been destroyed, adding: “Izium suffered a lot because of Russian aggression.” Kharkiv map The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would achieve all of its goals in Ukraine. In his first public response to Ukraine’s gains in the Kharkiv region, which began less than a week ago, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday “the military operation continues” and “will continue until the targets were initially set was achieved’. Later, Vladimir Putin appeared on state television to preside over a meeting on the economy in which he made no mention of the military situation and said Russia was holding up in the face of Western sanctions. “The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the attack they relied on, did not work,” the Russian president said. Reacting to the missile attacks, the Ukrainian’s defiant counterpart said that attacks on the country’s power grid – which are especially feared ahead of winter – would not intimidate the world. “Do you still think you can bully us, break us, force us to make concessions?” said Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst to us are not so terrifying and deadly as your friendship and brotherhood. We will be with gas, lights, water and food and without you.” Ukraine says Kharkiv power plant struck in ‘revenge’ for Russian defeats – video Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Monday morning that it believed Russia was likely to have ordered its troops to withdraw “from the entire occupied Kharkiv region west of the Oskil River”, a withdrawal apparently shown on maps released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday. Pockets of Russian resistance remain, but the UK ministry said: “Since Wednesday, Ukraine has recaptured territory at least twice the size of Greater London” in successes that could have “significant implications for Russia’s overall operational planning”. Ukraine has recaptured more than 1,160 square miles (3,000 square kilometers) of territory since last Tuesday, driving Russian forces out of territory west of the Oskil River that it planned to permanently seize from Izium to the border. Videos on social media showed tanks and other armored vehicles abandoned in the Russian retreat. Ukrainian military intelligence said the escaped soldiers had “engaged in massive looting, loading generators, phones and computers carried by Ukrainians in their cars.” Some schools were robbed and sports equipment was stolen from gyms, GUR said. Russian military bloggers said the Kremlin’s goal was to establish a new front line along the Oskil, although it was unclear whether this could be achieved or whether Ukraine could advance into Luhansk province, which the Russians have almost entirely check from july. The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said Russian troops had fled Svatovo, about 30 miles east of Oskil, which was captured at the weekend and the first major town since Kupiansk to be recaptured recently. Only Luhansk separatist troops remained, he said on Monday. Ukraine’s goal was to capture Izium, which Zelenskiy confirmed had been captured on Sunday night. Izium, which is a gateway to the Donbas towns still held by Ukraine, was lost in heavy fighting in March. “Ukrainian forces inflicted a major operational defeat on Russia, recapturing almost all of the Kharkiv region in a swift counterattack,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank. The GUR claimed that the general commanding Russia’s western army group was fired in the wake of the retreat in the Kharkiv region. It said General Roman Berdnikov had been replaced after less than three weeks in his post, but there was no confirmation from Russia.
