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Ukraine’s military says it has regained control of 3,000 square kilometers of territory during a rapid offensive on areas occupied by Russian forces in the east of the country.
This progress indicates, if what is said about it is true, that Ukraine doubled its military gains in two days and several hours.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last Thursday that his forces had succeeded in regaining control of about 1,000 square kilometers in the eastern region.
The BBC was unable to verify the authenticity of these statements because journalists were prevented from advancing to the front lines on the battlefront.
The Ukrainian forces have made remarkable progress in the recent period after entering the cities of Izyum and Kobyansk last Saturday.
And the British Ministry of Defense warned that fighting between the two sides is still going on in the vicinity of those cities, which came amid confirmation from officials in Kyiv that Ukrainian forces continue to fight for control of some areas in the vicinity of the city of Izyum.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that its forces are retreating, saying that this will allow it to “organize its ranks” in areas controlled by pro-Moscow separatists.
It also confirmed the withdrawal of Russian forces from the city of Plaklya in order to “reinforce its efforts” on the Donetsk front.
The administration appointed by Russia in the city of Kharkiv advised Ukrainians to leave for Russia “to save lives.”
And unverified photos were published on social media, with an increasing number of cars joining a long line on the way out of the eastern region of Ukraine towards the border with Russia.
“Thousands have crossed the border” into his country, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of Russia’s Belgorod border region.
The governor of the Russian city of Belgorod, which lies near the border, said food, heating and medical supplies would be available to those lining up on the way to the border.
The swift Ukrainian attacks caught the Russian forces by surprise, prompting Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov – a staunch supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin – to raise questions about the Russian withdrawal.
Kadyrov said, in a message via the Telegram application, that if the situation on the ground for Russia does not change, he will have to ask the country’s leadership to explain the data of the current situation.
photo released, Getty Images
Russia admitted to withdrawing its forces from several locations in Ukraine, coinciding with the announcement of the Ukrainian army of major progress
Despite this, Russia still controls about 20 percent of Ukraine. But some think that the war may end soon. Kadyrov insists that “Russia will win, and NATO weapons will be crushed.”
And if the Ukrainian forces continue to advance, this will be the first major change on the battlefront that the country has witnessed since Russia’s withdrawal from the vicinity of the capital, Kyiv, last April.
The city of Kobyansk was a center of Russian supplies. The loss of Izyum—which took more than a month to gain control of Moscow at the start of the war—is also a great affront to the Russian president.
gains in the south
This is the first time since World War II that Russia has lost entire military units, a military expert said.
The progress is also a sign of the Ukrainian military’s ability to liberate occupied territories – critical to Kiev, which continues to demand more military support from European allies, under strain in this conflict.
Dmitro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, stressed that the Ukrainian military progress achieved on the ground in the recent period may lead to the end of the war more quickly than expected if the weapons sent by Western powers continue to be available.
British Ministry of Defense officials noted on Saturday that many areas retaken by Ukraine were under “loose control” of Russian forces.
Ukraine launched its counterattack in the east of the country, while global attention is focused on a possible advance near the southern city of Kherson.
Experts believe that Russia has redirected a large number of its most experienced forces to defend the city.
Officials in Kyiv confirmed that the Ukrainian advance in the east coincides with the progress of Ukrainian forces in the south of the country as well.
Natalia Gomnyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian army’s Southern Command, said the army had advanced “between 2 kilometers and tens of kilometers along this front.”
But some reports indicated that the Russian forces fighting on the southern front were clinging to defensive positions, which led to the Ukrainian forces facing stiff resistance from the beginning of the offensive.
Local officials in the city of Kharkiv said that at least one person and several houses were destroyed by Russian missile strikes targeting the city last Saturday.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
photo released, Getty Images
There are inspectors from the International Energy Agency at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant
Ukraine confirmed Sunday that the sixth and last nuclear reactor at the Zaporozhye plant, which is controlled by Russian forces, has stopped generating electricity.
The Ukrainian Energy Agency, Energotom, said: “On his day and date September 11, 2022, at 3:41 am, Unit No. 6 of the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant was disconnected from the electrical power grid. Work is underway to cool it down and turn it into cold situation.
The United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency warned earlier that “the power outage in the city of Energodar, close to the nuclear plant, has endangered the safe operation” of this nuclear facility.
“The cold shutdown was the best case for maintaining the integrity of the reactor,” Energotom said Sunday.
She added that “the sixth reactor was generating electricity for the same station over a period of three days, and that the decision to stop its operation came after securing an external electrical power source that feeds the facility.”
And the agency warned, in a statement issued regarding stopping the operation of the last reactor at the station, that “in the event of repeated damage to the power transmission lines connecting the facility to the power system, the degree of danger remains high, as the station’s internal needs are provided by diesel generators.” .
The Ukrainian Energy Agency once again demanded that a demilitarized zone be defined around the nuclear plant, stressing that this is the only way to guarantee its safety.
Recently, Ukraine and its allies have raised concerns about the safe operation of this nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, and the possibility that the fighting in its vicinity could lead to serious accidents.