Ukrainian forces have continued to press their counterattack in Kharkiv, trying to take control of almost the entire province, while Russia launched dozens of air and missile strikes against power plants and other sites in apparent retaliation for the success of Kyiv
Ukrainian troops have moved north and are said to have retaken towns as far as the Russian border, with video circulating of a Ukrainian soldier in the center of the strategic city of Izium as the counter-offensive continues of a week in the northeast of the country.
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 reached the border state”.
Russia responded by launching missile strikes that cut power and water supplies to the city of Kharkiv for the second time in less than 24 hours, knocking out both on Monday morning just hours after city authorities had restored 80 % of public services that had been cut overnight.
Ukraine also said Russia had engaged in 18 missile and 39 airstrikes overnight. At least four civilians were killed and 11 others were wounded in Russian attacks in nine regions, the presidential office in Kyiv added.
A Ukrainian lawmaker, Inna Sovsun, said on Monday that war crimes investigators had found four “corpses with signs of torture” in a recently liberated village in the Kharkiv region. Other civilian bodies were being recovered after Russian troops had deserted from the area, he added.
An Izium official said at least 1,000 residents had died as a result of six months of fighting, but warned that the real 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.”
Map of Kharkiv
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 that “the military operation continues” and “will continue until that the objectives that were initially established are “achieved”.
Later, Vladimir Putin was shown on state television presiding over a meeting on the economy in which he made no reference to the military situation and said Russia was holding up in the face of Western sanctions. “The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the attack they were counting on, didn’t work,” the Russian president said.
Reacting to the missile attacks, his defiant Ukrainian counterpart said attacks on the country’s power grid – especially feared ahead of winter – would not intimidate people.
“You still think you can bully us, break us, force us to make concessions?” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. “The cold, the hunger, the darkness and the thirst of us are not so fearful and deadly as your friendship and brotherhood. We will have 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 Monday morning that it believed Russia was likely to have ordered its troops to withdraw “from the entirety of occupied Kharkiv Oblast west of the Oskil River,” a withdrawal apparently shown on maps published by the Russian Ministry of Defense on Sunday.
There are still pockets of Russian resistance, but the UK ministry said: “Since Wednesday, Ukraine has retaken territory at least twice the size of Greater London” with successes likely to have “significant implications for the overall operational design of Russia”.
Ukraine has reclaimed more than 1,160 square miles (3,000 km²) of territory since last Tuesday, pushing Russian forces out of territory west of the Oskil River that it had planned to occupy permanently 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 fleeing soldiers had engaged in “massive looting, loading generators, phones and computers taken by the Ukrainians into their cars.” Some schools were burglarized and sports equipment stolen from gymnasiums, the 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 been almost completely in control since July.
Ukrainian Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said Russian troops had fled Svatovo, about 30 miles east of Oskil, which was captured over the weekend, and the first major city of Kupiansk recently recovered Only Lugansk separatist troops remained, he said on Monday.
Ukraine’s goal was to seize Izium, which Zelenskii confirmed had been captured on Sunday night. Izium, which is a gateway to the Donbas cities still held by Ukraine, was lost in heavy fighting in March.
“Ukrainian forces have inflicted a major operational defeat on Russia, retaking almost all of Kharkiv Oblast in a swift counteroffensive,” said the Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank.
The GUR stated that the general commanding Russia’s western army group has been dismissed following the withdrawal to the Kharkiv region. It reported that General Roman Berdnikov had been replaced after less than three weeks in office, but there was no confirmation from Russia.