A battalion of military experts sweeping Russian television has admitted defeat to the Kremlin in the Kharkiv region as Ukrainian forces on Wednesday launched a counterattack that pushed the occupying forces out of about 300 cities and towns in the country’s northeast.
“The Kremlin admitted its defeat in Kharkiv Oblast, the first time that Moscow openly admitted defeat,” Institute for the Study of War He said in his last review A war that began with the Russian invasion on February 24.
Kremlin officials and state media propaganda on television extensively discuss the reasons for Russia’s defeat in Kharkiv. Bogdan Bezpalko, member of the Russian Council on Interracial Relations, He regretted the lack of military reconnaissance Prior to the counterattack, the Daily Beast reported.
“Of course, this is a tactical defeat,” Bizpalco said. “I hope it’s very realistic.”
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The latest developments:
► Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky flirt with both major allies Thursday, in an effort to bolster their war effort. Putin had hoped to strengthen his ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping in an alliance seen as a powerful counterweight to the West. A Russian official said the two were scheduled to meet and discuss Ukraine in Uzbekistan. Zelensky will meet with European Union President Ursula von der Leyen.
The south-central city of Kryvyi Rih, Zelensky’s birthplace, was experiencing flooding after a series of Russian cruise missiles damaged a dam on the Inholets River.
German Chancellor Olaf Schulz spoke on the phone with Putin but said: “Unfortunately, I cannot tell you that the realization has grown there now that this was a mistake to start this war.”
The Biden administration is expected to nominate the current US ambassador to Armenia and a veteran of the diplomatic corps with years of experience in Russian affairs, Lynne Tracy, as its ambassador to Russia. Under the rules of diplomatic protocol, the Kremlin must approve the nomination.
Concerns about recent Ukrainian successes in the war have prompted Russian authorities and security personnel in occupied Crimea to attempt to return their families to Russia, Institute for the Study of War saidCiting Ukrainian intelligence reports.
Oleksandr Shapoval, a prominent ballet dancer and teacher who had volunteered to fight against the Russian invasion, was killed Monday on the battlefield. She said the National Opera of Ukraine. He was 47 years old.
Shift blame from Putin
Previously, the Kremlin framed the withdrawal from Kyiv as a decision to prioritize the “liberation” of Donbass. The withdrawal from Snake Island was a “goodwill gesture”.
Now, the Institute for the Study of War He said the admission to Kharkiv is part of an effort to deflect criticism of such a fiasco from Russian President Vladimir Putin and defense officials.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense originally offered a similar explanation for the Russian failure in Kharkiv, claiming that Russian forces were withdrawing their forces from Kharkiv Oblast to regroup,” the institute’s assessment says. “This false narrative has faced rapid and loud criticism on the Internet.”
Zelensky visits the shattered city of Izium
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Izyum on Wednesday, just days after Russian troops pulled out of the city in the Kharkiv region. He toured the residential buildings that were destroyed by the fire and showed the effects of artillery shelling. The center of an apartment building has completely collapsed.
Zelensky participated in a ceremony to raise the flag of Ukraine in the city’s central square, in front of the destroyed city hall.
“It is possible to temporarily occupy the territory of our state,” Zelensky said. “But it is certainly impossible to occupy our people, the Ukrainian people.”
As in former cities and towns captured and then abandoned by Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities said they found traces of atrocities, including six bodies bearing signs of torture, in the recently retaken villages of the Kharkiv region.
We have a terrible picture of what the occupiers did. Cities such as Balaklia and Izyum are on the same line with Bucha, Borodinka and Irpin, said Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andrei Kostin, pointing to locations where Russian forces allegedly committed atrocities.
Mixed results for the Ukrainians in the battles for the liberation of Luhansk
The Ukrainians are not content with driving the Russians out of the northeastern Kharkiv region, but are moving towards neighboring Luhansk, one of the two districts in the Donbass industrial region that is at least partially occupied by Moscow’s forces.
The region’s governor, Serhiy Hayday, told the Associated Press that Ukrainian guerrilla forces were flying Ukrainian flags in the Luhansk cities of Svatov and Starobilsk. This is part of the campaign to liberate Luhansk Province, which has been under Russian control since July.
Expected to be a tough bloody chase. Andrei Maruchko, the military commander of a local separatist group, confirmed the Ukrainian advance in Luhansk, describing the situation as “really difficult”.
But Heidi said the expelled Russians returned Wednesday to Kremena – the city of 18,000 in the western part of Luhansk where Ukrainians raised their flag – and “tore down the flags and clearly show that they are there”.
Hayday added that the Russian forces continued to bombard their counterparts in the region heavily, which led to the disruption of the Internet service.
The President of the European Union Commission heads to Kyiv and praises the courage of Ukrainians
As European consumers grapple with electricity prices that rose to five times last year’s cost mostly due to the Russian invasion, Ukraine’s successful counterattack in the northeast may help validate the sacrifice.
In her State of the European Union address on Wednesday, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she would visit Kyiv later in the day as a sign of support for Ukrainians, adding that the bloc was committed to the cause and would open its markets. More country products.
“In the past days we have seen the courage of Ukrainians pay off,” said von der Leyen, who wore the colors of the Ukrainian flag and described the war as “autocratic against democracy.”
It also called for a reshaping of the way the European Union sets electricity prices because the current system “no longer delivers justice to consumers”.
Contributing: The Associated Press
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