Ukraine military continues to reclaim territory

Kyiv’s military reclaimed more eastern and southern territory from Moscow’s invasion force, as Russian missiles hit the major Ukrainian city of Kharkiv again after a night of rocket strikes on civilian infrastructure caused blackouts in several parts of the country.

Ukrainian troops have retaken several thousand square kilometres of territory and dozens of villages and towns this month, in a counterattack that prompted Russian troops to withdraw in disarray from large parts of the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine.

“Our military continues the operation to liberate Kharkiv region from the Russian occupiers. The enemy hastily abandons its positions and flees deeper into previously occupied territory or straight to the territory of the Russian Federation,” Kharkiv governor Oleh Synehubov said on Monday.

“In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation,” he added.

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The Russian military’s loss of the cities of Balakliya, Kupyansk and Izyum in recent days is expected to severely compromise its supply lines in Kharkiv province and in neighbouring Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are known collectively as the Donbas.

“We have liberated settlements ... The occupiers are rushing to leave the Luhansk region,” said its governor Serhiy Haidai, who is not in the mostly occupied province now.

“De-occupation is near. When you hear the approach of military activity, stay in shelters ... Every centimetre of Luhansk land is being won back,” he told local residents on social media.

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Military analysts say Kyiv’s troops appear to have used a Russian redeployment of forces from eastern to southern Ukraine to break through weakened enemy lines in the Kharkiv area and retake land seized by Russia soon after its all-out invasion in late February.

Natalia Humenyuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command, said some 500sq km of territory had been liberated in the south, near the Black Sea, and listed several settlements in the Kherson region that were now back under Kyiv’s control.

“However, shelling of these areas continues. While retreating, the enemy mined parts of these areas, so all local residents should be careful,” she added.

Russia’s military has acknowledged the withdrawal of its troops from much of Kharkiv region, but insists it was a planned redeployment of forces to the Donetsk area. Moscow failed to explain why its soldiers simply abandoned dozens of tanks and other armoured vehicles and large stores of ammunition when leaving Kharkiv, however.

“The ‘special military operation’ is continuing and will continue until the completion of all tasks that were set at the start,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

He said Russian president Vladimir Putin was informed of all military developments in Ukraine and was “in constant, what you could call round-the-clock, contact with all the top military officers.”

Russian officials and state media have not criticised the country’s armed forces, but some military bloggers have lambasted the performance of senior commanders and called for more devastating missile strikes — and even the use of tactical nuclear weapons — against Ukraine.

They rejoiced on Sunday night when Russian missiles struck power stations in Kharkiv and several other Ukrainian cities, shutting down power and water supplies. Most were restored within hours, but Kharkiv’s electricity grid was bombed again on Monday, killing at least one person and causing another blackout.

“Do you still think that you can scare us, break us, force us to make concessions? You really didn’t understand anything?” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a social media message aimed at Russia.

“Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as scary and deadly for us as your ‘friendship and brotherhood,’” he added.

“But history will put everything in its place. And we will have gas, light, water and food — without you.”