While progress continues Ukrainian forces In the east of the country, at the expense of the Russian forces, as a result of the counter-attack launched last week, a senior US military official said on Monday that RussiaAccording to US estimates, it has largely given up its gains near Kharkiv, and many of the retreating Russian soldiers have left Ukraine and crossed the border into their country.
“In general, our assessment is that the Ukrainians are making progress while they are fighting to liberate and regain territory in the south and east,” the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, added, according to “Archyde.com”.
He also said, “In the field near Kharkiv, we estimate that Russian forces have largely given up their gains to the Ukrainians and withdrawn to the north and east… Many of these soldiers crossed the border into Russia.”
‘Keep moving forward’
This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Monday that his army has recovered from Russian forces about 6,000 square kilometers of his country’s territory since it launched its counterattack in early September.
“Since the beginning of September, our soldiers have liberated 6,000 square kilometers of land in eastern and southern Ukraine,” he said in a video recording, which he posted on social networks. “We are continuing to advance,” he said in a video recording.
The Ukrainian president also praised the “courage” of three military units that participated in this operation, which led to the largest field gains for Ukraine since the withdrawal of Russian forces from the outskirts of Kyiv at the end of March.
A Russian armored vehicle seized by the Ukrainian army during the counter-offensive in Kharkiv – Archyde.com
counterattack
The Ukrainian army had initially announced the launch of a counterattack in the south of the country, but last week it made rapid progress in the Kharkiv region bordering Russia in the northeast of the country, forcing the Russian soldiers to retreat.
The Ukrainian army confirmed achievements in the Russian-occupied Kherson region (south), bordering the Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and in areas controlled by pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.