KYIV: Thousands of Russian troops have retreated in the face of a lightning Ukrainian offensive in the Kharkiv region that threatens to derail the Kremlin’s bid to cement control of Ukraine’s east.
A local Moscow-backed official and pro-Russian military bloggers said on Saturday that Moscow’s forces had pulled out of Izyum, a staging post for the campaign in Donbas, to avoid being encircled.
The claims are difficult to verify and the situation is developing quickly, but information from both sides points to rapid advances by Kyiv’s troops.
Meanwhile, Moscow subsequently announced that it was “regrouping” its forces in the eastern Kharkiv region.
“To achieve the goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas, a decision was made to regroup Russian troops stationed in the Balakliya and Izyum regions, to bolster efforts along the Donetsk front,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement.
The statement came hours after Ukrainian officials announced the seizure of Kupiansk, a logistical and transit hub for Russian troops fighting in the east, and the recapture of other occupied territory in the northern Kharkiv region earlier this week.
Ukraine’s defence ministry also tweeted a photo it said was of the liberation of Balakliya, to the southwest of Kupiansk, with troops shown raising a Ukrainian flag in the town centre.
The advances come after Kyiv received increasing supplies of weapons from the US and its allies over the past few months, including powerful Himars rocket launchers, giving Ukraine’s backers confidence that it can push back against the Russian invasion, now in its seventh month.
Ukrainian forces said on Saturday they had dislodged Russian troops from Kupiansk in a lightning counter-offensive.
Ukrainian special forces published images on social media showing camouflage-clad officers with automatic weapons “in Kupiansk”. It “was and will always be Ukrainian”, their statement said.
The town of 27,000 people, which sits on a crucial supply route for Russia forces in the east, fell within the first week after the Kremlin ordered its invasion of Ukraine on Feb 24.
Observers of the conflict expect Ukrainian forces to announce further gains in the Kharkiv region, which borders Russia, and has been either controlled by Russia or shelled by its artillery for months.
‘Astonishing’ advance
There was no official confirmation from Kyiv that its troops had also routed Russian forces from Iyzum, which had a pre-war population of around 45,000 people.
But images flooding social media appeared to show Ukrainian forces within the city and Russian observers of the conflict said there were initial reports Moscow’s army had already withdrawn.
“Ukrainian troops are advancing in eastern Ukraine, liberating more cities and villages. Their courage coupled with Western military support brings astonishing results,” foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said in a statement on social media.
“It’s crucial to keep sending arms to Ukraine. Defeating Russia on the battlefield means winning peace in Ukraine.”
His assessment of the pace of the Ukrainian gains came after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced late Friday that his troops had retaken 30 towns and villages in the Kharkiv region.
Ukraine’s push appears to have caught Russian troops largely off guard.
The head of the Russian-installed administration of the Izyum told the state news agency RIA Novosti that the situation in the region was “very difficult”.
“For the past two weeks, the city has been targeted by bombardments by Ukrainian forces … which is causing serious destruction and causing many deaths and injuries,” Vladislav Sokolov told RIA Novosti.
Moscow on Friday made the surprise announcement it was dispatching reinforcements to Kharkiv, with images on state media showing tanks and artillery and support vehicles moving in columns on dirt roads.
‘It was frightening’
The capture of urban hubs like Kupiansk and Izyum would be a significant blow to Russia’s ability to effectively resupply positions on the eastern frontline and could result in Russia being pushed back from Kharkiv entirely.
In one village captured by the advancing Ukrainians, electricity pylons were toppled and cables lay across the ground and houses were gutted, AFP journalists reported.
“It was frightening,” said 61-year-old Anatoli Vasiliev recalling the battle earlier this week that saw Ukrainian forces recapture the village from the Russians.
“There were bombings and explosions everywhere.”
Ukrainian troops were also advancing along portions of the southern front line, a spokesperson said on Saturday, in some regions by dozens of kilometres, into territory captured by Russian troops at the beginning of the invasion.
Russian news agencies, meanwhile, reported six large explosions in Nova Kakhovka, a town held by Russian troops in the southern Kherson region.
‘We will stand by Ukraine’
The German foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday for her second trip to Ukraine, which comes a week after Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal’s trip to Berlin where he had repeated Kyiv’s call for weapons.
“I have travelled to Kyiv today to show that they can continue to rely on us. That we will continue to stand by Ukraine for as long as necessary with deliveries of weapons, and with humanitarian and financial support,” Baerbock said.
Over the last weeks, Germany has sent howitzers, rocket launchers and anti-aircraft missiles to Kyiv, part of an arsenal of Western-supplied weapons that observers say have hurt Russia’s supply and command abilities.
Baerbock’s visit comes on the heels of a trip from US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who promised a nearly $3-billion military package for Ukraine.
In a meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Blinken said Russia’s push to send reinforcements showed Moscow was paying “huge costs” in its bid to capture and then hold Ukrainian territory.
However, Russian forces were still inflicting serious damage with a campaign of shelling in Kharkiv city and in the industrial region of Donbas in the east.