The Ukrainian Army reported this Sunday, September 11, on new advances and recovery of territories in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. kyiv forces say they are 30 miles from the Russian border north of that region, following Moscow’s withdrawal from Izium on Saturday, the foreigners’ worst defeat since the unsuccessful attempt to take kyiv at the start of the war. Meanwhile, the Zaporizhia nuclear plant shut down its last reactor as a safety measure.
Ukrainian forces advance in the northeastern province of Kharkiv, amid retreating Russian troops.
The Ukrainian military reported this Sunday, September 11, that are located 30 miles (about 48 kilometers) from the Russian border north of Kharkiv, after one of the worst defeats of the Russian Army in more than six months of war: the withdrawal this weekend from Izium, which until now had been one of Moscow’s main strongholds in that region.
“In the direction of Kharkiv, we are beginning to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north. There are 50 kilometers left to reach the state border (with Russia),” said the commander-in-chief of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhnyi.
The high-ranking official also pointed out in the last few hours that the Ukrainian Army has regained control of some 3,000 square kilometers of territory from the beginning of September.
As of Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported 2,000 square kilometers recovered.
In addition, the Ukrainian troops liberated the villages of Vasylenkovo and Artemivka in the Kharkiv region, the president said.
The Institute for the Study of War indicated that kyiv has recaptured more territory in five days than Russia had taken since last April.
Against this background, military analyst Oleh Zhdanov explained that the gains could pave the way for further progress of local troops in the Lugansk region, whose capture was proclaimed by the Kremlin at the beginning of last July.
“If you look at the map, it is logical to assume that the offensive will proceed in the direction of Svatove – Starobelsk and Sievierodonetsk – Lysychansk. These are two promising directions,” the expert noted.
The UK Ministry of Defense, whose intelligence agencies follow the course of the war, confirmed on September 11 that Ukrainian forces continued to make gains in the Kharkiv region over the last 24 hours.
Russia has recognized the retreat and withdrawal of its troops in almost the entire Kharkiv Oblast, but assures that it will send reinforcements.
Ukraine says the next three months are crucial in the conflict
President Zelensky sees the next three months as critical for the possible resolution of the war. On Saturday, he indicated that his country is headed for an early “employment” from the invaders. Although he also conditioned that possible victory to a strengthening of arms, renewing his requests for help from the West.
“I think this winter is a turning point and it can lead to a rapid de-occupation of Ukraine (…) We see how they (by Russian soldiers) are fleeing in some directions. If we were a little stronger with weapons, we would de-occupy faster “, he claimed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that the Ukrainian forces show that they are capable of defeating the Russian Army with the weapons they were given. “And so I repeat: the more weapons we receive, the faster we will win and the faster this war will end,” he stressed.
Videos of the recently recovered territory illustrate the scale of the defeat. They show military equipment and ammunition left behind by Russians fleeing their former positions. Ukrainian politicians shared images that boosted the morale of their military by raising the national flag in various towns and villages.
The counteroffensive in the northeast of the country has come as a surprise to Moscow and most military observers, who were expecting instead the long-promised Ukrainian advance in the southern Kherson region.
The territorial gains of the local Army are also important from a political point of view. kyiv seeks to keep Europe united in its support for Ukraine, providing arms and money, at a time when an energy crisis looms this winter after cuts in the supply of Russian gas to customers in the Old Continent.
Fighting continues and more civilians die
Amid the advances, this Sunday the fighting continued around Izium and the city of Kupiansk, the only railway hub that supplies Russia’s front line in northeastern Ukraine, and which kyiv soldiers recaptured on Saturday, March 10. September.
More Russian air and missile strikes were also recorded overnight in the east and south of the nation.
The governor of the eastern Donetsk province, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said 10 civilians were killed overnight. And further south, in the city of Mykolaiv, the local mayor reported that nine people were injured.
Operations halted at Zaporizhia nuclear plant
As the fighting continued, conditions at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant continue to cause global concern.
This Sunday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that a backup power line to the Russian-controlled facility was restored, providing it with external electricity from Ukraine’s energy system, which it needs to cool its reactors and defend itself against the risk of a fusion.
However, the Ukrainian state agency Energoatom said it has halted operations at the nuclear power plant as a safety measure.
According to Energoatom, the decision to shut down the reactor and switch it to the safer “cold shutdown” mode was made after the plant had operated for three days at “critically low” capacity, due to damage to all connections caused by shelling in its vicinity.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, an electricity transmission system operator in Ukraine, claimed that “Russia is systematically and deliberately damaging” the electricity transmission network around the plant. In the last three weeks, Ukrenergo repairmen twice restored all main high-voltage lines, connecting the plant to the country’s power grid.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the security situation in Zaporizhia by telephone.
Putin denounced to Macron alleged “constant Ukrainian attacks” against the facility. Reason to which he attributed the stoppage of the last reactor that was still running at the nuclear power plant.
“The Russian side drew attention to the regular Ukrainian attacks on the facilities of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, including the radioactive waste warehouse, which could lead to catastrophic consequences,” the Russian Presidency said, at the end of the conversation.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of bombing the Zaporizhia plant and thereby risking a catastrophic release of radiation.
With Reuters and EFE
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