Ukrainian troops retook a wide swath of territory from Russia on Monday, pushing back to the northeastern border in some places, and claimed to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of a blitzkrieg that forced Moscow to retreat hastily
A Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman said Russian troops were surrendering en masse because they “understand the hopelessness of their situation.” A Ukrainian presidential adviser said there were so many prisoners of war that the country was running out of room to accommodate them.
As blue and yellow Ukrainian flags flew over the newly liberated towns, the Ukrainian military said it had liberated more than 20 settlements in 24 hours. In recent days, Kyiv’s forces have captured territory at least twice the size of greater London, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine’s general staff claimed on Facebook that Russia has also stopped sending new units to the conflict zone.
The boost boosts morale in Ukraine
After months of little discernible movement on the battlefield, the momentum has lifted Ukraine’s morale and prompted rare public criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
“In some areas of the front, our defenders reached the state border with the Russian Federation,” said Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region. Over the weekend, the Russian Defense Ministry said troops would be withdrawn from two areas in that region to regroup in the eastern Donetsk region.
There were reports of chaos as Russian troops withdrew.
“The Russians were here in the morning. Then, at noon, they suddenly started shouting wildly and started running away, charging with tanks and armored vehicles,” Dmytro Hrushchenko, a resident of Zaliznychne, a small town near the eastern front, recently released line, he told Sky News.
LOOK | Ukraine recovers territory from Russian forces:
Ukraine recovers areas of territory from Russian forces
The Ukrainian army has retaken some 3,000 square kilometers of territory from Russian occupation in a few days after a swift counter-offensive in the northeastern part of the country. It marks a major change in the war after months of attrition.
A video taken by the Ukrainian military showed soldiers raising the Ukrainian flag over battle-damaged buildings. In one scene, a fighter wiped his boots with a Russian flag on the floor. Other videos showed Ukrainians inspecting the remains of Russian military vehicles, including tanks.
Efforts to disarm landmines were underway in the recaptured areas, along with the search for remaining Russian troops, Ukrainian military officials said.
It was not yet clear whether the Ukrainian blitz might signal a turning point in the war. Momentum has shifted before and back, but rarely with such a big, sudden swing.
“Significant” numbers of Russians captured: Ukraine
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.
Ukraine’s deputy interior minister accused fleeing Russian forces of burning official documents and hiding bodies in an attempt to cover up rights violations in areas they controlled until last week.
The mood was upbeat across the country.
In Kharkiv, authorities praised electricity and water as being restored to about 80 percent of the region’s population after Russian attacks on infrastructure left much of Ukraine without power.
A woman carries a dog in front of a residential building damaged by a Russian missile attack on Monday in Kharkiv. (Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters)
The mood was captured by a defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on social media Sunday afternoon.
“You still think you can bully us, break us down, force us to make concessions?” Zelensky asked. “The cold, the hunger, the darkness, and the thirst of us are not so fearful and deadly as your ‘friendship’ and brotherhood.”
Russia says the “military operation” will continue
Meanwhile, in Russia, there were some signs of disarray as patriotic Russian military bloggers and commentators chastised the Kremlin for not mobilizing more forces and taking stronger action against Ukraine.
Russia has continually stopped short of calling its invasion a war, instead describing it as a “special military operation” and relying on a limited contingent of volunteers rather than a mass mobilization that could fuel discontent and civil protest.
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russia would achieve all of its objectives in the military operation in Ukraine, its first public response to Ukraine’s dramatic gains on the battlefield in the Kharkiv region.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to answer directly when asked by a reporter whether President Vladimir Putin had confidence in his military leadership, replying that the “special operation” would continue until it had achieved the your goals
“The military operation continues,” Peskov said. “And it will continue until the goals that were originally set are achieved.”
Ukrainian servicemen rest on Monday in Zolochiv, Kharkiv region, after returning from the village of Udy, recently liberated by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
Criticism of Russian “mistakes” grows
Ramzan Kadyrov, the Moscow-backed leader of the Russian region of Chechnya, publicly criticized the Russian defense ministry for what he called “mistakes” that made the Ukrainian bombing possible.
Even more remarkably, this criticism was leaked to state-controlled Russian television.
“The people who convinced President Putin that the operation will be quick and effective… these people really created us all,” Boris Nadezhdin, a former member of parliament, said on a talk show on NTV television . “Now we are at the point where we have to understand that it is absolutely impossible to defeat Ukraine using these colonial resources and methods of war.”
Pro-Kremlin separatists reported that Ukrainian troops were closing in on the town of Lyman, a railway hub captured by Russia in late May that provides access to bridges over the nearby Siversky Donets River.
Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, acknowledged that the situation was “difficult”.
Even amid the excitement over Ukraine, casualties continued to mount.
Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday that at least four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in a series of Russian attacks in nine regions of the country. The UN Human Rights Office said last week that 5,767 civilians had been killed so far.
LISTEN | The complicated reality on the ground in Ukraine:
Front Burner24:58 Inside Ukraine, a country that lives with war
The view of the war from inside Ukraine varies depending on where you are. For two weeks, CBC News senior correspondent Susan Ormiston has been criss-crossing the country where war has become a normal part of life for some. In the capital Kyiv, businesses are reopening, communities are rebuilding and some who fled at the start of the war have returned. Meanwhile, in Kherson and Kharkiv, fierce clashes continue as Ukraine’s counteroffensive ramps up. The Ukrainians say they are making good progress, but Russia denies this, saying Ukraine is suffering heavy losses. The ongoing media blackout makes it difficult to get a clear picture. Today on Front Burner, Susan Ormiston shows us the complicated reality in Ukraine as the war rages on.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Monday that Kyiv “is likely to increasingly dictate the location and nature of major fighting.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the withdrawal would likely further erode Russian forces’ confidence in their commanders and put Moscow’s troops on the line.