War News: Ukraine continues to liberate territory

Ukraine recaptures cities taken in the early days of Russia’s invasion and appeals to Western nations to supply additional weaponry to support the offensive.

Ukrainian soldiers have pushed farther into Russian-occupied territory in a counteroffensive that has dealt a devastating blow to Moscow’s military reputation. As the assault proceeded on Tuesday, Ukraine’s border guard agencies reported that the army had taken control of Vovchansk, a town barely 3 kilometers from Russia that had been seized on the first day of the battle.

The mayor of Melitopol stated that Russian forces were also leaving the southern city and moving towards Moscow-annexed Crimea. Moscow, on the other hand, stated at its daily briefing that its military was conducting “massive strikes” throughout the Ukrainian frontier. The Russian defense ministry stated on Tuesday that “air, rocket, and artillery troops are carrying out huge attacks against units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operating directions.” According to the report, “high-precision” attacks have also been fired against Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk area.

Since Moscow surrendered its major bastion in northeastern Ukraine on Saturday, marking its most significant setback since the beginning of the conflict, Ukrainian soldiers have regained dozens of towns in what looks to be a startling reversal in tactical momentum.

When asked if the six-month conflict in Ukraine had reached a tipping point, US President Joe Biden replied it was difficult to say. “There is no doubt that the Ukrainians have made great gains.” But I believe it will be a long road.”

The United States, which has supplied billions of dollars in weaponry and equipment, has stated that it will likely reveal further military help to Ukraine in the “coming days.”

In the center square of Balakliia, a vital military supply hub captured by Ukrainian forces late last week, Ukraine’s Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Malyar declared that 150,000 people had been liberated from Russian authority in the area. Ukrainian flags had been hoisted, and an enormous throng had come to collect humanitarian relief packages. Although a retail mall had been devastated, numerous buildings remained standing, with stores closed and boarded up.

Fighting was still going on in the northeastern Kharkiv region, according to Malyar, who added that Ukraine’s soldiers were making significant headway because they were highly motivated and their operation was well organized. “Our goal is to free the Kharkiv area and beyond - all the lands held by the Russian Federation,” she said on the way to Balakliia, 74 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

Credit: @kuptg; Telegram

Exhumation

Nadia Khvostok, 76, of Verbivka, a village northwest of Balakliia, detailed the horrific takeover and the entry of Ukrainian forces, saying people greeted them “with tears in our eyes.”

“We couldn’t be happier My grandchildren stayed in the cellar for two and a half months. “When the corner of the house was ripped off, the children began to shake and stammer,” she added, adding that they and her daughter had fled to an unknown location.

Oleh Synyehubov, the regional governor of Kharkiv, who visited Verbivka, said the authorities were attempting to document crimes perpetrated by Russians during their occupancy of the area and retrieve the corpses of victims.

“We’re questioning everyone nearby about all the possible burial sites,” he explained. “We discovered several civilian burial grounds.” We are continuing the exhumation procedure. So far, we know of at least five persons, but this is far from the end, believe me.”

Moscow denies that Russian soldiers committed crimes in regions under its authority.

During the day, Ukrainian forces resisted enemy attacks in six towns and localities to the north of Donetsk, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, although no seized land was mentioned.

Weapons supply

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed in a Tuesday evening address that Ukrainian troops have freed nearly 8,000 square kilometers of the nation so far this month, presumably all in the northeastern province of Kharkiv.

“Stabilisation efforts” had been finished in almost half of that region, Zelenskyy added, “and stabilization measures are currently proceeding throughout a freed area of roughly the same size.”

He previously encouraged Western countries to expedite military supply, urging partners to “strengthen cooperation to confront Russian terror.”

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, singled out Germany for refusing to supply tanks and armor: “There isn’t a single realistic justification why these weapons can’t be delivered, only abstract worries and excuses.” What does Berlin fear that Kyiv does not?”

Russian soldiers still hold around a fifth of Ukrainian land in the country’s south and east, but Kyiv is on the attack in both areas.

With the recapture of virtually all of Kharkiv province, the Ukrainian offensive might quickly spread into neighboring Luhansk and Donetsk, where Russia has been concentrating its forces for months in an effort to expand territory controlled by Moscow-backed rebels since 2014.

Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, claimed soldiers had already retaken the city of Lyman in northern Donetsk. He picked Svatove in Luhansk’s east as the most likely future battleground.

According to a senior US military official, Russia has essentially lost land around Kharkiv in the northeast and has withdrawn many of its troops from the border.

A video released by Ukraine’s border guard agency shows Ukrainian forces liberating the village of Vovchansk near the Russian border, burning down flags and ripping down a billboard that read “We are one with Russia.”