Russia withdraws troops from Kharkiv after Ukraine recaptures territory twice the size of greater London
12 September 2022, 08:06
Russia has ordered troops to withdraw from the entire Kharkiv area in a massive retreat as Ukrainian forces occupy territory twice the size of Greater London.
The Ministry of Defence said that Russia was also struggling in the south of Ukraine, struggling to bring reinforcements forward to the front line across the Dnipro river.
The Russians tried to build an improvised bridge two weeks ago but it remains incomplete and Ukrainian artillery is battering other crossings to thwart Russian repairs to infrastructure.
Russia’s troops are being forced into ‘emergency defensive actions,’ said the MoD, which added that the confidence of troops on the ground is ‘likely to deteriorate further’.
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Former army chief Lord Dannatt said the Russians have "pretty much turned and fled" from the Kharkiv area of Ukraine, representing a "significant reverse" of their position.
While this is a "great success" for the Ukrainians, he said they continue to need "more and more" Western arms and ammunition in order to be able to "keep the pressure up".
"We are witnessing some incredible scenes," he told Sky News.
"Although the Ukrainians have made significant advances, there's a lot of their country still in Russian occupation. So there's a long way to go."
On Sunday, President Zelenskyy posted a video of Ukrainian soldiers hoisting the national flag over Chkalovske, another town they reclaimed from the Russians in the counter-offensive.
The Ministry of Defence said on Twitter on Sunday: "Over the last 24 hours, Ukrainian forces have continued to make significant gains in the Kharkiv region.
"Russia has likely withdrawn units from the area, but fighting continues around the strategically important cities of Kupiansk and Izium.
"On 07 September 2022, President Putin said that only 60,000 tonnes of the grain exported from Ukraine since August had been sent to developing countries, and that the majority had been delivered to EU states.
"Putin's claim is not true. According to UN figures, around 30% has been supplied to low and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
"Russia is pursuing a deliberate misinformation strategy as it seeks to deflect blame for food insecurity issues, discredit Ukraine and minimise opposition to its invasion."
Ukraine's military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyy, said Ukraine has liberated about about 1,160 square miles since the beginning of September.
He said Ukrainian troops are now about 30 miles away from the border with Russia.
The Russians' pullback marked the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the nearly seven-month war.
Ukraine's attack in the Kharkiv region came as a surprise for Moscow, which had relocated many of its troops from the area to the south in expectation of the main Ukrainian counter-offensive there.
In an awkward attempt to save face, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Saturday the troops' withdrawal from Izyum and other areas in the Kharkiv region was intended to strengthen Russian forces in the neighbouring Donetsk region to the south.
The claim sounded similar to the justification Russia gave for pulling back its forces from the Kyiv region earlier this year when they failed to take the capital.
The group of Russian forces around Izyum has been key for Moscow's effort to capture the Donetsk region, and their pullback will now dramatically weaken the Russian capability to press its offensive to Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk just to the south.
Igor Strelkov, who led Russia-backed separatists in the early months of the conflict in the Donbas when it erupted in 2014, mocked the Russian Defence Ministry's explanation of the retreat, suggesting that handing over Russia's own territory near the border to Ukraine as a "contribution to Ukrainian settlement".
The retreat drew angry comments from Russian military bloggers and nationalist commentators, who bemoaned it as a major defeat and urged the Kremlin to respond by stepping up war efforts.
