KHARKIV, Ukraine
Ukrainian troops continued to
pile unrelenting pressure on retreating
Russian forces on Tuesday, seeking to hold on to their sudden momentum
that has produced major territorial gains.A Ukrainian soldier smiles from a military vehicle on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday
Fresh yellow-and-blue flags
fluttered from the tallest buildings left in partly destroyed towns around
Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, while Ukrainian soldiers inspected charred
Russian tanks left along the way.
“From the beginning of
September until today, our soldiers have already liberated more than 6,000
square kilometers of the territory of Ukraine — in the east and south. The
movement of our troops continues,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy
in his nightly address late Monday.
Many of the claims of military
success could not be independently verified.
Rubbing salt into Russia’s
wounds, British intelligence said that one of Moscow’s premier forces, the 1st
Guards Tank Army, had been “severely degraded” during the invasion and that
“Russia’s conventional force designed to counter NATO is severely weakened. It
will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability.”
The retreat didn’t stop Russia
from pounding Ukrainian positions, however. Early Tuesday, it shelled the city
of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said
regional governor Oleh Syniehubov.A Ukrainian soldier helps a wounded fellow soldier on the road in the freed territory in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday
The Nikopol area, which is
across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled
six times during the night but no injuries were immediately reported, said
regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko. Continued shelling has left Europe’s
largest nuclear facility in a precarious position.
Zelenskyy specifically
criticized Russia for targeting energy infrastructure in its attacks over the
past days. “Hundreds and thousands of Ukrainians found themselves in the dark —
without electricity. Houses, hospitals, schools, communal infrastructure… sites
that have absolutely nothing to do with the infrastructure of the armed forces
of our country.”
He said it could only point to
one thing. “This is a sign of the desperation of those who contrived this war.
This is how they react to the defeat of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region.
They can’t do anything to our heroes on the battlefield.”
Ukrainian military
intelligence said Russian troops were surrendering en masse. A Ukrainian presidential
adviser said there were so many prisoners of war that the country was running
out of space to accommodate them.
The counteroffensive left the
Kremlin struggling for a response to its largest military defeat in Ukraine
since Russian forces pulled back from areas near Kyiv after a botched attempt
to capture the capital early in the invasion.
The Russian Defense Ministry
acknowledged the setback in a map that showed its troops pressed back along a
narrow patch of land on the border with Russia — a tacit admission of big
Ukrainian gains.
It was not yet clear if the
Ukrainian blitz could signal a turning point in the war. Momentum has switched
back and forth before, but rarely with such a big and sudden swing.
Some in Russia blamed Western
weapons and fighters for the losses.
“It’s not Ukraine that
attacked Izium, but NATO,” read a headline in the state-supported Komsomolskaya
Pravda newspaper, referring to one of the areas where Russia said it has
withdrawn troops.
Elsewhere, residents of a Russian
village just across the border from Ukraine were evacuated after shelling by
Ukrainian troops killed one person, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.
The report cited the head of
the local administration in Logachevka, who said Ukrainian troops opened fire
at a border checkpoint. - AP
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