KYIV (Reuters) – Rapidly advancing Ukrainian troops approached the main railway line supplying Russian forces in the east on Friday, after the collapse of a section of the Russian front line caused the most dramatic change in the rush of war since its first weeks.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops had “liberated dozens of settlements” and recovered more than 1,000 km2 (385 square miles) of territory in Kharkov region in the east and Kherson in the south last week.
Zelenskiy posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they captured the eastern town of Balakliia, located along a stretch of front stretching south from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The Ukrainian army said it had advanced nearly 50 km on this front after an assault that seemed to take the Russians by surprise.
It was the first such lightning advance reported by both sides in months, in a war mostly characterized by bitter frontline battles since Russia abandoned its disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.
Almost 24 hours after Ukraine announced the breakthrough on the Kharkiv front, Russia has yet to comment publicly. The Kremlin declined to comment on Friday and posed questions to the Russian military.
Ukraine has not allowed independent journalists into the region to confirm the extent of its progress. But Ukrainian news websites showed footage of soldiers cheering from armored vehicles as they drove past road signs bearing the names of towns previously controlled by Russia, and Russian forces moving to the edge of the road.
“We’re seeing success in Kherson now, we’re seeing some success in Kharkiv and so that’s very, very encouraging,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a news conference with his Czech counterpart in Prague. .
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said Ukrainians were now just 15 km from Kupiansk, a key junction for major railway lines that Moscow had long relied on to supply its forces on the battlefields to the east.
Since the defeat of Russian forces near Kyiv in March, Moscow has used its firepower advantage to make slow progress by bombarding towns and villages. But this tactic depends on tons of ammunition per day reaching the front line by train from western Russia. So far, Russia has successfully fended off Ukraine’s attempts to cut off this train line.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Friday morning that retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded and damaged military equipment near Kharkiv.
“Thanks to skilful and coordinated actions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of the local population, advanced almost 50 km in three days.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions driven from their homes and Russian forces have destroyed entire towns since Moscow launched what it calls a ‘special military operation’ in February to ‘disarm’ the ‘Ukraine. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
In the latest reported strike against civilians, Ukrainian officials said Russia struck a hospital near the international border in the northeastern region of Sumy on Friday morning. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
“The Russian air force, without crossing the Ukrainian border, fired on a hospital. The premises were destroyed, there are wounded,” regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said on Telegram.
BREAKTHROUGH
The surprise Ukrainian breakthrough in the east came a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of kilometers across the front line in southern Kherson province. .
Ukrainian officials said Russia had moved thousands of troops south to respond to the advance from Kherson, leaving other parts of the front line exposed and creating the opportunity for a lightning assault across the border. is.
“We found a weak point where the enemy was not ready,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
So far, less information has emerged about the campaign in the south, with Ukraine shooing away reporters and revealing few details.
Ukraine is using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets to strike Russian rear positions, aiming to trap thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River and cut them off from supplies.
Arestovych acknowledged that progress in the south had not yet been as rapid as the sudden breakthrough in the east.
Russian state news agency RIA quoted Russian authorities in Kherson as saying Ukrainian soldiers were captured in the counterattack and some Polish tanks they were using were destroyed. Reuters could not verify this information.
The United Nations has accused Moscow of denying access to thousands of prisoners of war, with the head of a United Nations human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, describing documented cases of torture and mistreatment of prisoners held by Russian forces and their proxies.
UN monitors have also documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of POWs by Ukraine, giving them unhindered access, she said. Ukraine said it would investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
Moscow denies abusing prisoners. Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers died in an explosion of fire while detained by pro-Russian authorities in July in what Kyiv called a massacre. Moscow blamed the Ukrainian bombings.
North of the battlefield, Russian missiles hit several areas in Kharkiv on Thursday, causing widespread damage and casualties, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
“We are scared… You can’t get used to it, ever,” resident Olena Rudenko told Reuters.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops had “liberated dozens of settlements” and recovered more than 1,000 km2 (385 square miles) of territory in Kharkov region in the east and Kherson in the south last week.
Zelenskiy posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they captured the eastern town of Balakliia, located along a stretch of front stretching south from Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The Ukrainian army said it had advanced nearly 50 km on this front after an assault that seemed to take the Russians by surprise.
It was the first such lightning advance reported by both sides in months, in a war mostly characterized by bitter frontline battles since Russia abandoned its disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.
Almost 24 hours after Ukraine announced the breakthrough on the Kharkiv front, Russia has yet to comment publicly. The Kremlin declined to comment on Friday and posed questions to the Russian military.
Ukraine has not allowed independent journalists into the region to confirm the extent of its progress. But Ukrainian news websites showed footage of soldiers cheering from armored vehicles as they drove past road signs bearing the names of towns previously controlled by Russia, and Russian forces moving to the edge of the road.
“We’re seeing success in Kherson now, we’re seeing some success in Kharkiv and so that’s very, very encouraging,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told a news conference with his Czech counterpart in Prague. .
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said Ukrainians were now just 15 km from Kupiansk, a key junction for major railway lines that Moscow had long relied on to supply its forces on the battlefields to the east.
Since the defeat of Russian forces near Kyiv in March, Moscow has used its firepower advantage to make slow progress by bombarding towns and villages. But this tactic depends on tons of ammunition per day reaching the front line by train from western Russia. So far, Russia has successfully fended off Ukraine’s attempts to cut off this train line.
The Ukrainian General Staff said on Friday morning that retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded and damaged military equipment near Kharkiv.
“Thanks to skilful and coordinated actions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of the local population, advanced almost 50 km in three days.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions driven from their homes and Russian forces have destroyed entire towns since Moscow launched what it calls a ‘special military operation’ in February to ‘disarm’ the ‘Ukraine. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
In the latest reported strike against civilians, Ukrainian officials said Russia struck a hospital near the international border in the northeastern region of Sumy on Friday morning. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
“The Russian air force, without crossing the Ukrainian border, fired on a hospital. The premises were destroyed, there are wounded,” regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said on Telegram.
BREAKTHROUGH
The surprise Ukrainian breakthrough in the east came a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of kilometers across the front line in southern Kherson province. .
Ukrainian officials said Russia had moved thousands of troops south to respond to the advance from Kherson, leaving other parts of the front line exposed and creating the opportunity for a lightning assault across the border. is.
“We found a weak point where the enemy was not ready,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
So far, less information has emerged about the campaign in the south, with Ukraine shooing away reporters and revealing few details.
Ukraine is using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets to strike Russian rear positions, aiming to trap thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River and cut them off from supplies.
Arestovych acknowledged that progress in the south had not yet been as rapid as the sudden breakthrough in the east.
Russian state news agency RIA quoted Russian authorities in Kherson as saying Ukrainian soldiers were captured in the counterattack and some Polish tanks they were using were destroyed. Reuters could not verify this information.
The United Nations has accused Moscow of denying access to thousands of prisoners of war, with the head of a United Nations human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, describing documented cases of torture and mistreatment of prisoners held by Russian forces and their proxies.
UN monitors have also documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of POWs by Ukraine, giving them unhindered access, she said. Ukraine said it would investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
Moscow denies abusing prisoners. Dozens of Ukrainian soldiers died in an explosion of fire while detained by pro-Russian authorities in July in what Kyiv called a massacre. Moscow blamed the Ukrainian bombings.
North of the battlefield, Russian missiles hit several areas in Kharkiv on Thursday, causing widespread damage and casualties, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
“We are scared… You can’t get used to it, ever,” resident Olena Rudenko told Reuters.
