- The Moscow-based official acknowledges Ukraine’s rapid progress
- Offensive could shut down Russian supply lines: military analysts
- Zelenskiy says fierce battles continue in Donbas and south
Kyiv, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces have seized an expanding area of formerly Russian-held territory in the east in a “very sharp and rapid” advance, a regional official said on Friday. lat to Russia, in a breakthrough that could mark a turning point in the war.
After remaining silent for a day, Russia effectively acknowledged that a section of its front line had collapsed southeast of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv.
“The enemy is delaying as much as possible, but several settlements have already come under the control of Ukrainian armed formations,” Vitaly Ganchev, head of the administration of the Russian-backed Kharkiv region, told television state Read more
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy later said that Kyiv forces had so far liberated more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region and that fighting was continuing in the eastern Donbas region and the south.
“Our military, intelligence units and security services are conducting active engagements in various operational areas. They are doing so successfully,” he said in a video address.
Ganchev had said his administration was trying to evacuate civilians from towns like Izium, Russia’s main stronghold and logistics base in the province.
Zelenskiy’s adviser Oleksiy Arestovych, in a video posted on YouTube, said the Russian defenders in Izium were almost isolated. Citing what he described as reports from the front line, Arestovich said that so far hundreds of Russians had been killed and several hundred more had been taken prisoner.
Reuters could not immediately verify his claim.
Russia has taken control of a fifth of Ukraine since its troops invaded on February 24 in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to “disarm” Ukraine. The government in Kyiv and its Western allies accuse Russia of an imperial-style war of aggression.
SUPPLY LINES
The Russian defense ministry released a video of military vehicles speeding down a road, saying they showed reinforcements rushing to defend the area.
Ukrainian officials released videos showing soldiers raising flags and standing in front of street signs in towns and cities in part of the territory formerly controlled by Russia.
One image showed troops at a welcome sign on the road through Kupiansk, previously more than 50km inside Russia’s front line. The city is an important objective as the junction of several of the main railway lines supplying troops to the front.
Ukraine kept independent journalists out of the area.
Firefighters work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo
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Western military analysts said the advance could shut down supply lines Moscow has relied on to maintain its hold on eastern Ukraine and potentially leave thousands of Russian troops encircled. Read more
Such rapid advances have been largely unseen since Russia abandoned its assault on Kyiv in March, turning the war primarily into a movement along entrenched front lines.
“Now we see success in Kherson, we see some success in Kharkiv and that is very, very encouraging,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference in Prague.
The Ukrainian General Staff said early Friday that retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded personnel and damaged military equipment near Kharkiv.
Tens of thousands of people have died, millions have been driven from their homes, and entire cities have been destroyed by Russian forces. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
In the latest reported strike against civilians, Ukrainian officials said Russia had fired across the border, hitting a hospital in the northeastern Sumy region on Friday morning. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
The center of Kharkiv, which has been bombed regularly, has been hit by Russian rocket fire, injuring 10 people, including three children, Governor Oleh Synehubov said.
ADVANCEMENT
The Ukrainians broke through to the east a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of kilometers away at the other end of the front line in southern Kherson province.
Ukrainian officials said Russia moved thousands of troops south to respond to the Kherson advance, leaving other parts of the front exposed.
Russia’s RIA news agency quoted Russian-appointed Kherson authorities as saying some Ukrainian troops were captured and some Polish tanks they were using were destroyed. Reuters could not verify these reports.
Ukraine has been using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets to pound Russian rear positions in the south, aiming to trap thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River.
Zelenskiy is scheduled to speak to US arms makers for the first time in late September, when he is expected to make an appeal for more weapons.
Washington has already provided more than $14.5 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since the invasion. Read more
Separately, the UN nuclear watchdog said on Friday that shelling had destroyed electrical infrastructure in the southern Ukrainian town of Enerhodar, home to staff operating the controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Russia, and poses a growing threat to the central. Read more
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Reports by Reuters journalists; Written by Peter Graff, Hugh Lawson and Michael Martina; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Grant McCool
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