The Government of Ukraine celebrated the Russian withdrawal from Kharkov, finding itself preparing new counter-attacks as a military strategy.
Ukraine has taken the initiative in the war with its counterattacks in the south and east of the country and after changing the situation at the front, after a summer of positional fighting in Donbas, he is preparing to continue the offensive.
“The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue the liberation of the territories occupied by Russia. Since the beginning of September, Ukraine has regained control of more than 3,000 square kilometers,” Valeri Zaluzhni, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said on Facebook.
According to the senior military officer, “in the direction of Kharkov we began to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north. There are 50 kilometers left to the state border.”
Zelensky promises a “rapid unemployment”
For his part, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, predicted in his speech at the 17th meeting of the European Strategy in Yalta, held the day before, a “rapid vacancy” of the country this winter as the Russians “they are fleeing in some directions”.
“But for this our army needs a systematic supply of the necessary types of weapons”said.
For Zelensky, “this winter is a turning point and can lead to rapid unemployment of Ukraine (…) If we were a little stronger with weapons, we could vacate more quickly”.
The Ukrainian command found that “the enemy continues to suffer losses” after being “without support measures and entering a state of panic.”
According to the Ukrainian General Staff in its part of the war, the Russian forces have suffered heavy casualties during the fighting and mentioned that 75 wounded troops were transferred to the Russian region of Belgorod, close to the border.
A defeat of the Russian forces
The American Institute for War Studies (ISW) was more direct in its assessments, stating that “the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkov region is defeating the Russian forces and collapsing the northern axis of pro-Russian Donbas.”
Referring to the “regrouping” of the Russian forces announced the day before by the Russian Defense Ministry, the ISW noted that “they are not carrying out a controlled withdrawal and are hastily fleeing from the south-east of the Kharkov region to escape the encirclement of Izyum”.
According to the think tank, the Ukrainian territorial gains in the last five days have been superior to those of the Russian forces. “in all its operations since April”.
“Ukrainian forces are likely to capture the city of Izyum in the next 48 hours if they have not already done so. The liberation of Izyum would be the most important Ukrainian military achievement since winning the Battle of kyiv in March.”the ISW added.
This will affect the future of the Russian operation in Sloviansk y Kramatorskthe main Ukrainian strongholds in Donbas, estimated the American center.
Russia responds with high-precision missiles
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry, which described its withdrawal from the Kharkov region as a “regrouping”claimed to have caused more than 200 casualties to the Ukrainian Army in this direction during the last day with high-precision missiles.
“As a result of our attacks, troops and war equipment of units of the 14th and 92nd motorized brigades of the Ukrainian Army in the towns of Starovirivka, Chugúyiv and Voloska Balakliya”, reported the spokesman for the Russian command, Igor Konashénkov.
Russian troops also attacked a Territorial Defense brigade in the town of Nova Vodolaga and a foreign mercenary emplacement in Klugino-Bashkirivka, it added.
According to Konashenkov, during the Ukrainian counter-offensives in the south and east of the country between September 6 and 10, more than 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and another 8,000 wounded.
Zaporizhia shuts down the last reactor
The Russian Defense Ministry also referred to the situation in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukrainewhere Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of the attacks.
According to the Russian command, since last September 1 the plant and Energodar, the neighboring city, have been subjected to 26 artillery strikes by the Ukrainian forces.
Konashénkov indicated that as a result of the fire directed at a transformer substation on September 6 and the high-voltage line on September 8, the city lost power twice.
In this context, the Russian authorities stopped this Sunday the last reactor still in operation in this energy installation due to the persistence of attacks against the plant.
“The reactor was stopped, at this time work is being carried out for its cooling“, declared the advisor to the Russian Rosenergoatom consortium, Renat Karchaa.
According to the specialist, the disengagement of the block was carried out in a safe regime around 4:00 Moscow time.
Karchaa previously warned that this step is not an absolute guarantee against a nuclear accident if the artillery attacks continue, for which he blamed the Ukrainian Army.
The director general of the International Nuclear Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, warned this Friday about the possibility of an accident after a bombing that cut off the outside electrical connection to the nuclear power plantthe largest of its kind in Europe.