Ukraine Recaptures More Ground After Russia’s Stunning Military Setback. As Russia retaliated with attacks on some of the retaken territory, Ukrainian forces reported on Monday that their lightning counteroffensive had gained yet more land in the previous 24 hours.
Although Moscow signaled it was no closer to agreeing to a negotiated ceasefire, the territorial movements constituted one of Russia’s biggest U-turns since its troops were forced back from Kyiv in the first days of the nearly seven months of combat.
Locals have been sobbing and feeling relieved as Russian troops have retreated in recent days, especially on Sunday in the strategically important but severely destroyed town of Izyum.
“I can’t just claim I’m content. I simply lack the vocabulary to adequately convey my feelings “Yuriy Kurochka, 64, remarked.
Ukraine Recaptures More Ground After Russia’s Stunning Military Setback. However, a day after Kyiv claimed that Russian strikes on the country’s electricity infrastructure were to blame for blackouts, Moscow had announced air, rocket, and artillery attacks on seized territories in the Kharkiv region by Monday.
When Ukraine announced that its forces had retaken more than 20 additional communities, it claimed that “Russian troops are quickly abandoning their posts and fleeing” and opened fire in retaliation.
Izyum in the country’s east had already been taken back, according to Kyiv, and since the beginning of September, Ukraine has wrested control of 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of its land from Russia.
The battle will not end because of the current counteroffensive, according to a tweet from US research tank Institute for the Study of War. “Ukraine has shifted the tide in its favor.”
In addition to the enormous gains made in the east over the weekend, Ukraine also reported on Monday that its forces had taken back 500 square kilometers (193 square miles) in the southern Kherson area.
According to an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde that was published on Monday, the war has changed due to the use of Western weapons.
He reportedly remarked, “We started by utilizing the US HIMARS mobile artillery systems to cut off enemy supply lines and destroy gasoline and weapon stores.
Experts viewed Moscow’s admission of having lost land as a severe setback to its war plans, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saw no chance of discussions.
He continued, using Russia’s nomenclature for the widely denounced war, “the special military operation continues and will continue until the objectives that were originally intended are attained.”
On Sunday evening, major energy outages affected most of eastern Ukraine; according to president Volodymyr Zelensky, this was done on purpose to harm civilian infrastructure. “Russian terrorists,” he accused.
Nine million people, or over half of those regions’ total population, were affected by the blackouts, including Russian-controlled territory.
Weapons, weapons, and more weapons
According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian airstrikes on Sunday hit 15 different places from Kramatorsk in the east to Mykolaiv in the south and Dnipro in between.
Since the invasion in February, bombardment had endangered the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor, which had previously cut off all power to Ukraine.
The plant’s final reactor, which is also Europe’s largest nuclear power station, was shut off as a safety precaution, according to the nation’s nuclear energy organization.
According to the UN atomic watchdog, Kyiv and Moscow have “indications that they are interested” in establishing a security perimeter around the Zaporizhzhia plant.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi stated, “What we need here truly is for Ukraine and Russia to agree on a very simple concept of not attacking or not shelling the plant.”
The military of Russia appears to have been caught off guard by the rapidity with which Ukraine has fought back, regaining control of large swaths of land that Moscow had previously held.
Russian forces had left behind equipment and ammunition in crates, according to photos supplied by the Ukrainian military.
Zelensky thanked the soldiers who had “liberated hundreds of our cities and villages… and most recently Balakliya, Izyum, and Kupiansk” in his evening address on Sunday.
AFP journalists observed signs of severe fights around Balakliya, one of the first towns retaken by Ukrainian forces, with houses damaged or destroyed and streets largely abandoned.
The nation’s foreign minister took advantage of the momentum to request more advanced weaponry from its Western friends.
“Since the spring, we have been discussing weaponry nonstop. I am grateful to the allies who responded to our call: Ukraine’s victories on the battlefield are ones we both share, “said Dmytro Kuleba.
