Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his country’s forces had retaken 6,000 km² (2,400 square miles) of Russian-held territory in the south and east of the country. Ukrainian forces have continued to press their counterattack in Kharkiv, seeking to take control of almost the entire province. Ukrainian troops moved north, reportedly retaking towns as far as the Russian border, and video circulated of a Ukrainian soldier in the center of the strategic city of Izium.
Russian military commanders have stopped sending new units to Ukraine after the counteroffensive, the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said on its Facebook page on Monday. “The military command of the Russian Federation has suspended the sending of new units already formed on the territory of Ukraine. The current situation in the theater of operations and the distrust of the higher command forced a large number of volunteers to categorically refuse the perspective of service under combat conditions.”
Russian troops have left behind stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports. The news reported that Russian soldiers dropped their weapons on the ground as they fled, with some jumping on stolen bicycles and trying to pass locals. One analyst estimates that between September 7 and 11, more than 300 vehicles were lost, including tanks, self-propelled mortars and supply trucks.
Russia responded to the counteroffensive by launching missile strikes that cut power and water supplies to the city of Kharkiv for the second time in less than 24 hours, knocking out both on Monday morning just hours after city authorities had restored 80% of the public services that had been. cut during the night. Ukraine also said Russia launched 18 missiles and 39 airstrikes overnight. At least four civilians were killed and 11 others were injured, the Kyiv presidential office added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on state television Monday evening, presiding over a meeting on the economy in which he made no reference to the military situation and said Russia is resisting Western sanctions . “The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the attack they were counting on, didn’t work.” Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said that “the military operation continues” and “will continue until the goals that were initially set are achieved.”
The US assesses that Russia has largely surrendered its gains near Kharkiv and that many retreating Russian soldiers have left Ukraine and crossed the border back into Russia, a senior US military official said on Monday . However, the US Institute for the Study of War think tank said that “Ukraine has turned the tide in its favor, but the current counter-offensive will not end the war”.
Ukrainian authorities have said they are capturing so many Russian prisoners of war that the country is running out of room to put them, the Associated Press reports. Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich did not specify the number of Russian prisoners, but said the prisoners of war will be exchanged for Ukrainian service members detained by Moscow. Military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov said the captured troops included a “significant” number of Russian officers.
Municipal deputies of 18 districts of Moscow and St. Petersburg have signed a public statement demanding the resignation of Vladimir Putin. “We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens,” said the statement released by Ksenia Torstrem, the municipal deputy of the Semenovsky district of St. Petersburg. “Deputies are still not prohibited from expressing their opinions. And it is not forbidden to speak because of the resignation of the president. He is not a monarch, but a hired worker, he receives a salary from our taxes”.