Kyiv, Ukraine — Russia’s defense ministry said Saturday it was withdrawing forces from two areas in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region where a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made significant advances in the past week.
Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops will regroup from the Balakliya and Izyum areas to the Donetsk region. Izyum was an important base for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region.
Konashenkov said the move is being made “in order to achieve the stated goals of the special military operation to liberate Donbas,” one of the regions in eastern Ukraine that Russia has declared sovereign.
The claim of withdrawal to concentrate in Donetsk is similar to the justification Russia gave for withdrawing its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Previous AP story follows below.
Kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials on Saturday claimed major gains in a counteroffensive against Russian forces in the country’s northeast, saying Ukrainian troops had cut off vital supplies to the frontline hot spot.
The reports followed several days of apparent Ukrainian advances south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, in what could become the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital of Kyiv at the start of the practice. seven months war
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko suggested that Ukrainian troops had retaken Kupiansk, a town along the main supply route to Izyum, long focused on the Russian front line and the site of heavy artillery and other engagements. Nikolenko tweeted a photo showing soldiers from Ukraine’s 92nd Separate Mechanized Battalion in front of what he said was a government building in Kupiansk, 73 kilometers (45 miles) north of Izyum.
The Security Service of Ukraine, known as the SBU, released a message hours later that it said showed its forces in Kupiansk, further suggesting that it had been captured by Ukrainian troops. The Ukrainian military did not immediately confirm the entry into the city, a railway hub that Russia seized in February, when its mayor surrendered to avoid civilian casualties.
Later on Saturday, videos began circulating on social media that also appeared to show Ukrainian forces on the rural outskirts of Izyum at a road checkpoint. In the images you can see a large statue that bears the name of the city. Ukrainian forces did not acknowledge having the city.
Earlier on Saturday, Britain’s Ministry of Defense told reporters it believed the Ukrainians had advanced up to 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Kharkiv and described Russian forces around Izyum as “increasingly isolated” .
“Russian forces were probably taken by surprise. The sector was only lightly held and Ukrainian units have captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said, adding that the loss of Kupiansk would greatly affect the lines of Russian supply in the area.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, also cited Ukraine’s large gains, estimating that Kyiv has seized about 2,500 square kilometers (965 square miles) in his advance to the northeast. The institute said it appeared that “disorganized Russian forces were caught up in Ukraine’s rapid advance.” They cited images on social media of what appeared to be Russian prisoners captured in the advance around Izyum and surrounding towns.
The same report said that Ukrainian forces “can collapse Russian positions around Izyum if they cut Russian land lines of communication” north and south of the city.
Moscow did not immediately acknowledge or comment on the claims by Ukraine and its Western allies. However, Vladislav Sokolov, the head of the Russian-appointed local administration, said on social media that Izyum authorities have begun evacuating residents to Russia.
The fighting in eastern Ukraine comes amid an ongoing offensive around Kherson in the south. Analysts suggest Russia may have taken troops from the east to reinforce around Kherson, giving the Ukrainians an opportunity to attack a weakened front line.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Ukraina TV channel that the Russians had no food or fuel for their troops in the area because Kyiv had cut off their supply lines.
“It will be like an avalanche,” he said, predicting a Russian comeback. “A line of defense will tremble and fall.”
The Ukrainian military was more circumspect about the reported gains, saying in its regular update on Saturday that it had taken “more than 1,000 square kilometers” (386 square miles) from pro-Kremlin forces this week. He said that “in some areas, units of the Defense Forces have penetrated the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 50 kilometers,” matching the British assessment, but did not reveal geographic details.
Officials in Kyiv have been open for weeks about plans for a counteroffensive to retake territory seized by Russia early in the war, asking residents to refrain from sharing information on social media.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a late-night video on Friday that Ukrainian troops had recaptured more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region since the start of the counteroffensive.
“We are gradually taking control of more settlements, returning the Ukrainian flag and protection for our people,” Zelenskyy said.
He spoke after the Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv reported that the national flag had been raised over Balakliia, a city retaken by Ukrainian troops on Thursday after six months of Russian occupation.
“Balakliia is Ukraine! Today, together with the army, led by the commander of the Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrskyy, we raised the flag of Ukraine,” Governor Oleh Syniehubov wrote on Telegram.
Elsewhere, Ukrainian emergency services reported that a 62-year-old woman was killed during a Russian missile attack in the Kharkiv region overnight. He said his body was found buried in the rubble of his house, which was crushed by the strike.
Syniehubov also accused Moscow of hitting settlements reclaimed by Kyiv in its recent advances, along with other residential areas in the region. He said in a Telegram post that five civilians were hospitalized in Izyum district, while nine others were injured elsewhere in the region.
In the embattled Donbas region, south of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian governor said civilians were killed and wounded overnight by Russian shelling near the town of Bakhmut, a key target of the stalled Russian offensive there. Pavlo Kyrylenko told Telegram that two people were killed and two others were injured in Bakhmut and the neighboring village of Yahidne.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Kyiv on Saturday on an unannounced visit, saying Europe would not tire of helping Ukraine despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to increase pressure by withholding supplies of energy in the countries of the European Union.
Baerbock said Germany will help Ukraine find and remove mines and other unexploded ordnance left by Russian troops in areas where they have been pushed by Ukrainian forces.
Despite progress made by Ukraine’s armed forces, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the head of NATO warned on Friday that Ukraine’s fight against Russia looks set to drag on for months. Blinken said the war was entering a critical period and urged Western supporters of Ukraine to maintain their support during what could be a difficult winter.
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Kozlowska reported from London. Associated Press writer Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.
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