The Ukrainian troops expanded their territorial profits on Monday, pushing to the northeast border of the country in some places, and claimed to have captured a record number of Russian soldiers as part of the progress of the rays that forced Moscow to become a hurried retreat. A Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman said that Russian troops were making mass as “they understand the hopelessness of their situation.” A Ukrainian presidential advisor said there were so many prisoners of war that the country was running out of space to accommodate them.
The blue and yellow Ukrainian flags fluttered over newly released cities through a wide strip of recovered land. The Ukrainian army said he had released more than 20 settlements in 24 hours. In recent days, Kyiv forces have captured territory at least twice the size of the great London, according to the British Ministry of Defense. After months of small discernible movement on the battlefield, the impulse has raised the Ukrainian morals and has caused rare public criticisms of the Russian President Vladimir Putin. “In some areas of the Front, our defenders arrived at the state border with the Russian Federation,” said Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the Northeast of Jarkiv region.
The counteroffensive left the Kremlin fighting for an answer to its greatest military defeat in Ukraine, since the Russian forces withdrew from the areas near Kyiv after a failed attempt to capture the capital at the beginning of the invasion. The Russian Ministry of Defense recognized the reverse on a map that showed its troops pressured along a narrow patch of land on the border with Russia, a tacit admission of great Ukrainian profits.
“The Russians were here in the morning. Then, at noon, they suddenly began shouting wildly and began to flee, loading in armored tanks and vehicles, ”said Dmytro Hrushchenko, resident of Zaliznychne recently released, a small city near the eastern front line, Sky News. The video taken by the Ukrainian army showed the soldiers who lifted the Ukrainian flag on buildings damaged by the battle. In a scene, a fighter cleaned his boots on a roller flag on the floor. Other videos showed the Ukrainians who inspected the remains of Russian military vehicles, including tanks.
In his night speech, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces have released more than 6,000 square kilometers (2,300 square miles) in the east and south since the beginning of September. Now the Ukrainian teams are disarming terrestrial mines and other unexplained weapons in the recaptured areas and looking for the remaining Russian troops, authorities said.
It was not yet clear if Ukrainian bombing could indicate a turning point in the war. The impulse has changed from side to side before, but rarely with such a large and sudden swing.
Ukrainian presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovich did not specify the number of Russian prisoners, but said that war prisoners would be exchanged for members of the Ukrainian service in the possession of Moscow. Military intelligence spokesman Yusov said that the captured troops included a “significant” number of Russian officers. The Deputy Minister of Interiors of Ukraine accused the Russian forces of burning official documents and hiding organizations in an attempt to cover up violations of rights in the areas they controlled until last week.
The mood was jubilant throughout the country. In Kharkiv, the second largest city in Ukraine and the capital of the region where profits have been achieved, the authorities praised that power and water had been restored to approximately 80% of the population of the region after attacks after the attacks Russians against infrastructure that eliminated electricity in many places. through Ukraine.
“You are heroes!” The mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, wrote on Telegram, referring to the teams that restored public services in the second largest city in Ukraine. “Thanks to all who did everything possible in this night more difficult for Kharkiv to normalize the life of the city as soon as possible.” Meanwhile, in Russia, the signs of disorder arose when Russian military bloggers and other commentators punished the Kremlin for not mobilizing more strength and taking stronger measures against Ukraine.
Russia has continually stopped calling its invasion a war, instead of describing it as a “special military operation” and trusting a limited contingent of volunteers instead of mass mobilization that could stimulate civil discontent and protest. Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader backed by Moscow from the Russian region of Chechnya, publicly criticized the Ministry of Defense of Russia for what he called “mistakes” that made the Ukrainian blitz possible. Even more notable, such criticisms were leaked on Russian television controlled by the state.
“The people who convinced President Putin that the operation will be rapid and effective … These people really prepared us all,” said Boris Nadezhdin, former member of Parliament, in an interview program at NTV Television. “Now we are at the point where we have to understand that it is absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these resources and methods of colonial war.” Some in Russia blamed Western weapons and combatants for losses.
“It is not Ukraine who attacked Izium, but NATO,” reads a headline in the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper backed by the State, referring to one of the areas where Russia said he has removed the troops.
In other places, the residents of a Russian village on the other side of the border from Ukraine were evacuated after bombing by the Ukrainian troops killed a person, according to the Tass news agency in Russia. The report cited the head of the local administration in Logachevka, who said that the Ukrainian troops opened fire at a border control point.
The Pro-Kremlin separatists reported that the Ukrainian troops approached the city of Lyman, a railway center captured by Russia at the end of May that offers access to bridges on the nearby Siversky Donets River.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self -proclaimed Popular Republic of Donetsk, acknowledged that the situation was “difficult.” Even in the middle of the exuberance of Ukraine, the victims continued to increase. The Ukraine presidential office said Monday that at least four civilians were killed and another 11 injured in a series of Russian attacks in nine regions of the country. The UN Human Rights Office said last week that 5,767 civilians have been killed so far.
Among the attacks on Monday were strikes in residential areas in Kharkiv that killed at least one civilian and caught multiple fires, local officials said. In a reminder of the toll of the war, a member of the Council in Izium accused the enemy forces of killing civilians and committing other atrocities. Maksym Strelnikov told journalists on Monday in an online informative session that hundreds of people had died during fighting and after Russia seized the city in March. Many died of bombings and could not get an adequate burial, he said. His statements could not be verified immediately, but similar scenes have been developed in other places captured by the Russian forces.
The Ukrainian army also claimed to have found more evidence of human rights violations by the Russian occupants. He did not give more details. Izium was an important basis for Russian forces in the Kharkiv region. The first Ukrainian flag rose over the city on Saturday, according to Strelnikov. The residents, some wrapped in the country’s flag, greeted the Ukrainian forces and offered them food.
Ukraine said the Russians continued to bombard Nikople through the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia energy plant, damaging several buildings there and leaving the largest nuclear facilities in Europe in a precarious position. The last operational reactor at that plant has closed in an attempt to avoid a radiation disaster as the fighting unleashed nearby. The Washington War study said on Monday that KyIV “will probably more and more dictate the location and nature of the main fighting.”The British Ministry of Defense said that retirement would probably further deteriorate the confidence that Russian forces have in their commanders and put Moscow troops on the rear foot.
