Liudmyla Dmyttruk, 67, lights an oil lamp as she shows the basement where she lives with her neighbors in the liberated village of Hrakove, Ukraine, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Ukrainian troops piled pressure on retreating Russian forces on Tuesday, pushing deeper into occupied territory and sending more Kremlin troops fleeing in the face of a counter-offensive that has dealt a stunning blow to Moscow’s military prestige. As the advance continued, Ukraine’s border guard services said the army had taken control of Vovchansk — a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia that was seized on the first day of the war. Russia has acknowledged that it has withdrawn troops from areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in recent days. Russian troops are also withdrawing from the southern city of Melitopol, the second-largest city in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, the city’s previous mayor said. His claim could not be immediately verified. Melitopolis has been under Russian occupation since the beginning of March. Taking it would give Kyiv the opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and the eastern Donbas region, the two major areas where Moscow-backed forces hold ground. The mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, wrote on Telegram that Russian troops are heading towards Moscow-annexed Crimea. He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Tsonhar, a village that marks the border between the Crimean peninsula and mainland Ukraine. In the recently liberated village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the departure of the Russians was sudden and swift. “They’re gone like the wind,” Honchar said Tuesday after loading boxes of food into her car. “They left by any means they could.” Some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the hasty retreat. “They were trying to catch up,” he said. It was not yet clear whether the Ukrainian blitz, which unfolded after months of little discrete movement, could mark a turning point in the nearly seven-month war. But the country’s officials were alarmed, releasing videos showing their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks. In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read: “We are one people with Russia.” Momentum has swung back and forth in the past, and Ukraine’s US allies have been careful not to declare early victory, as Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to draw on. In the face of Russia’s biggest defeat since its failed bid to capture Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were retaliating with “massive strikes” on all fronts. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden uptick in Russian attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were carrying out “stabilization measures” in territory they recaptured in the south and east of the country and were rounding up Russian troops, “saboteurs” and alleged collaborators. In his nightly televised speech, Zelensky also pledged to restore order in the liberated areas. “It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the occupied territory,” he said, citing an example of how people in a village had already started receiving pensions after months of occupation. Reports of chaos abounded as Russian troops withdrew – as well as claims of mass surrenders. The allegations could not be confirmed. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hana Maliar said Kyiv was trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to surrender by firing shells filled with flintlocks ahead of their advance. “The Russians are using you as cannon fodder. Your life means nothing to them. You don’t need this war. Surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the leaflets read. Authorities moved to various areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians. Since Saturday, Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found bodies of civilians bearing signs of torture in territory previously held by Russia. Their statements could not be verified. On Tuesday, regional police claimed that Russian troops had set up “a torture chamber” at the local police station in Balaklia, a town of 25,000 that was occupied from March until last week. In a Facebook post, the head of the police investigation department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimonies from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops “always kept at least 40 people captive” at the facility. In a sign of the blow Moscow suffered, British intelligence said a flagship force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been “severely degraded” during the invasion, along with conventional Russian forces designed to counter the NATO. “It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability,” the analysts said. The setback may renew Russia’s interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former Putin speechwriter. But even if Putin were sitting at the negotiating table, Zelensky has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Galyamov said. “This is unacceptable for Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible,” he said. Putin’s past actions “limited his room for manoeuvre”, so he “wouldn’t be able to put anything substantial on the table”. For talks to be possible, Putin “will have to leave and be replaced by someone who is relatively tarnished by the current situation,” such as his deputy chief of staff, the mayor of Moscow or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said. The retreat did not stop Russia from pounding Ukrainian positions. It shelled the city of Lozova early Tuesday in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. And Ukrainian officials said Russia continued shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear meltdown. The region of Nikopoli, across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times overnight, but no injuries were immediately reported, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said. The strikes also continued unabated in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city and one that has been pounded by artillery for months. Among Kharkiv’s battle-scarred apartment buildings, a man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely trigger harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said it will not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians. Putin “will strike so we don’t have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us,” said Serhi, who gave only his first name. “But he won’t make it because we will survive and Putin will soon be screaming!” The counterattack has sparked rare public criticism of Putin’s war. Meanwhile, some of its defenders in Russia played down the idea that success belonged to Ukraine, instead blaming Western weapons and fighters for the losses.
