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by Max Hunder and Vitalii Hnidyi
KYIV/HRAKOVE, Ukraine, September 10 (Reuters) – The Russian army on Saturday abandoned its main stronghold in northeastern Ukraine, Izium in the Kharkiv region, in the face of a counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces which ‘Will stop where our interests stop,’ said the secretary of the Ukrainian National Defense and Security Council.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said Saturday evening in a video message that Ukrainian forces had recaptured some 2,000 km2 of territory since the start of their counter-offensive.
Russian troops present around Izioum, an important logistical node, have received orders to redeploy in the Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Minister announced on Saturday.
The Ukrainian army has also regained control of Kupiansk, a rail hub essential to supplying the Russian forces deployed in the East.
“In order to achieve the stated objectives of the special military operation to liberate Donbass (in eastern Ukraine), it was decided to regroup the Russian forces stationed in the districts of Balakliia and Izium”, said General Igor Konachenkov, spokesman for the Russian Defense Minister, quoted by the news agency.
A few hours later, Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar announced in a press release the capture of Balakliia.
The reconquest of Izium is the severest setback suffered by the Russian army since its abortive offensive against Kyiv in March.
Vitali Gantchev, head of the pro-Russian administration in the part of the Kharkiv region controlled by Moscow, called on the civilian populations to evacuate and flee to Russia, in order to “save lives”, reports the Tass agency.
“A VERY SHARP AND VERY RAPID PROGRESSION”
A Reuters journalist present in a large area taken over by the Ukrainian army in recent days saw Ukrainian police units patrolling several towns and boxes of ammunition abandoned by fleeing Russian soldiers.
Natalia Popova, adviser to the president of the Kharkiv regional council, shared pictures on social networks showing troops hoisting the Ukrainian colors in front of the town hall of Kupiansk, the Russian flag spread out at their feet.
In this town located 72 hours ago, about fifty kilometers from the front line converge railway lines connecting Russia to eastern Ukraine.
According to Western experts, its reconquest by the Ukrainian army could cut off important supply lines between Russia and the Donbass and weaken the entire Russian presence in the region, with thousands of soldiers risking finding themselves surrounded in the area of the attack. ‘Izioum, further south.
In Hrakove, one of the villages retaken by Kyiv, Reuters journalists saw charred vehicles bearing the letter “Z” used by Russian forces to identify themselves since the start of the invasion operation launched by Moscow on February 24 last. In a courtyard lay three bodies wrapped in white body bags.
The head of the regional police, Volodimir Tymoshenko, declared that the Ukrainian police, arrived Friday in this locality, checked the identities of the inhabitants who lived under Russian occupation since the second day of the invasion.
“The first mission is to provide the assistance which they need. Then, it is a question of uniter information on the crimes committed by the Russian occupiers”, has it said.
MOSCOW SAYS SEND REINFORCEMENTS
After keeping silent in response to the first announcements of a Ukrainian breakthrough in the Kharkiv region on Wednesday evening, Moscow finally admitted on Friday that its defenses had been broken down on part of the front line southeast of the second largest city in Ukraine.
Vitali Gantchev reported a “very clear and very rapid progress” of the opposing forces. “We are slowing down the enemy as much as possible, but several villages have already come under the control of the Ukrainian armed forces,” he admitted.
In his ritual evening television address, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky said that the Ukrainian army had liberated some thirty villages in a few days in the region, and that it was also continuing its counter-offensives in Donbass (east) and around Kherson (south).
“Our army, our intelligence units and our security services are carrying out active operations in several operational areas. They are doing it successfully,” he said.
After neglecting it to reinforce the southern front, Russia announced that it had sent reinforcements to the Kharkiv region and the Ministry of Defense released a video of military vehicles moving at high speed on a highway, without anyone can tell in which direction.
The Ukrainian army had not made such a rapid advance since Russian troops gave up on Kyiv in March and retreated hastily towards the border.
“We see the Ukrainians having success in Kherson, we are seeing it now in Kharkiv, it’s very, very encouraging,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a Prague press conference.
“The (Ukrainian) armed forces will stop where our interests stop, and that will depend on many circumstances,” declared on Voice of America the secretary of the National Defense and Security Council, Oleksiy Danilov.
The Russian army nevertheless continues to bombard Kharkiv, the second city of Ukraine, where ten people, including three children, were injured Friday by rocket fire, according to the governor of the oblast of Kharkiv, Oleh Sinehoubov. (With the offices of Reuters, French version Tangi Salan, Jean-Stphane Brosse and Sophie Louet)