In northeastern Ukraine, a “strategic withdrawal” that looks like a debacle

” HASwatch out mines! Don’t stray from the road! » reads in large Cyrillic letters painted on a sheet metal. The tanks wind between the craters of the shells which pierce the roadway. Around, gutted buildings bear witness to the fierce fighting that preceded the reconquest of Balakliia, a city of 27,000 souls before the war, located east of Kharkiv and liberated on September 7 by Ukrainian forces as part of their counter- offensive. The first humanitarian convoys deliver basic necessities to the inhabitants, who have lived through more than six months of occupation.

On the town hall square, where a distribution of food is improvised, neighbors and friends meet after spending months holed up in their cellars. “Overnight, the Russians took off…