Ukrainian forces keep pressure on fleeing Russian forces

KHARKIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Ukrainian forces have increased pressure on the retreating Russian forces On Tuesday, he pushed further into the occupied territories and sent more Kremlin troops to flee before the counterattack dealt a severe blow to Moscow’s military standing.

As the advance continued, Ukrainian border guards said the army had captured Vovchansk, a town just 3 kilometers (two miles) from Russia, captured on the first day of the war. Russia admitted that it withdrew its forces From districts in the northeastern region of Kharkiv in recent days.

The mayor of the city said before the occupation that Russian forces were also withdrawing from the southern city of Melitopol, the second largest city in the Zaporizhzhya region of southern Ukraine. His claim could not be verified immediately.

Melitopol has been under Russian occupation since early March. Its capture would give Kyiv the opportunity to disrupt Russian supply lines between the south and eastern Donbass, the two main regions controlled by Moscow-backed forces.

Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote in a telegram that Russian forces were moving towards Moscow annexed Crimea. He said numbers of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village that demarcates the border between Crimea and the Ukrainian mainland.

In the newly liberated village of Chkalovsky in the Kharkiv region, Svetlana Honchar said that the departure of the Russians was sudden and swift.

“They left like the wind,” Honchar said on Tuesday after loading food aid packets into her car. “They were fleeing by any means they could.”

And some Russians appeared to have been left behind in the accelerating withdrawal. “They were trying to catch up,” she said.

It is not yet clear whether the Ukrainian raid, Which unfolded after months of noticeable slight movement, could signal a turning point in the nearly seven-month war.

But the country’s officials were excited, releasing footage showing their troops burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned charred tanks. In one of the videos, border guards tore down a poster that read “We are one people with Russia.”

Momentum has shifted back and forth before, and Ukraine’s American allies have been careful not to declare a premature victory. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin still has the forces and resources to draw from.

Facing Russia’s biggest defeat since then In its unsuccessful attempt to seize Kyiv early in the war, Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said troops were responding with “intense strikes” in all sectors. But there were no immediate reports of a sudden increase in Russian attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukrainian forces are implementing “stabilization measures” across the retaken lands in the south and east of the country, arresting Russian forces, “saboteurs” and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly televised address, Zelensky pledged to restore life to normal in the liberated areas.

“It is very important that normal, normal life besides our forces, as we know, enters the occupied territories,” he said, citing an example of how people in a village had already started receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

Reports of chaos abound with the withdrawal of Russian forces – as well as allegations that they were surrendering en masse. The allegations cannot be confirmed.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Kyiv was trying to persuade more Russian soldiers to surrender, firing shells full of leaflets before they advanced.

The Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life means nothing to them. I don’t need this war. Surrender of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Authorities moved to several regions to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian forces against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers found civilian bodies with signs of torture across the territory formerly under the control of Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police claimed that Russian forces had set up a “torture room” at the local police station in Balaklia, a town of 25,000 that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, Serhiy Polvinov, head of the investigation department of the police force, cited the testimony of Balaklia residents and claimed that Russian forces “always kept at least 40 people in captivity” in the building.

In one indication of the blow to Moscow, British intelligence said one major force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been “severely degraded” during the invasion, along with conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

“It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capacity,” analysts said.

Abbas Galiamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin, said the setback could renew Russia’s interest in peace talks.

Galiamov said that even if Putin sat down at the negotiating table, Zelensky made it clear that Russia should return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea.

“This is unacceptable for Moscow, so talks in the strict sense of the word are impossible,” he said.

Putin’s previous actions have “restricted the room for maneuver”, so he “will not be able to put anything meaningful on the table.”

For talks to be possible, Galiamov said, “Putin would need to leave and be replaced by someone who is relatively unaffected by the current situation,” such as the deputy chief of staff, the mayor of Moscow or the Russian prime minister.

The retreat did not prevent Russia from bombing Ukrainian positions. The regional governor Oleh Senehubov said that the shelling bombed the city of Lozova in the early hours of Tuesday morning in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and wounding nine.

Ukrainian officials said Russia has continued bombing around Europe’s largest nuclear facility, as the fighting has raised fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Regional Governor Valentin Reznichenko said the Nikopol region, which lies across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, was bombed six times during the night, but no casualties were immediately reported.

The strikes also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine, which has been bombarded with artillery for months..

Among the apartment buildings destroyed by the battle in Kharkiv, a man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counterattack was likely to prompt Russia to take harsh retaliation against civilian targets. But he said he would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

“He will strike so that we don’t have water and electricity to create more chaos and intimidate us,” said Serhiy, who gave only his first name. “But it will not work because we will survive, and soon Putin will pounce!”

The counterattack sparked rare public criticism of Putin’s war. Meanwhile, some of its defenders in Russia played down the idea that success belonged to Ukraine, blaming Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

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Arhirova reported from Kyiv.

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