Ukrainian forces are regaining control of towns and villages around the strategic city of Izium in their counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine against Russian forces, the Ukrainian government announced today.
“The liberation of parts of the territory in the Kupiansk and Izium districts of the Kharkiv region is underway,” the Ukrainian General Staff announced on the 200th day of the conflict.
kyiv had already announced that its troops had entered Kupyansk.
In early September, the Ukrainian military first announced a counteroffensive in the south, before making a surprise advance last week against Russian lines in the northeast, in the Kharkiv region.
After announcing the liberation of some 30 villages on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that the Ukrainian army had seized some “2,000 kilometers of territory” in September.
Today, when evaluating the situation, the Army clarified that there were about 2,000 square kilometers of territory, recovered from the Russian forces in recent days.
Russia announced on Saturday that it had “withdrawn” its present forces “in the Balakliia and Izium regions” to “strengthen” its system around Donetsk, further south, one of the capitals of the pro-Russian separatists.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of almost 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and almost seven million to neighboring countries-, according to the latest UN data, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion was condemned by the international community at large, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia in everything from banking to energy to sports.
The UN presented as confirmed 5,587 civilian deaths and 7,890 wounded, stressing that the real figures are much higher and will only be known at the end of the conflict.
Source: TSF
