Ukraine claimed this Sunday to have expelled Russian troops from several strategic points in the east of the countryafter Moscow announced a withdrawal from the Kharkov region to reinforce the Donetsk front, further south.
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In the other major focus of the conflict at the moment, the nuclear energy agency of
Ukraine claimed that the last active reactor in the central Zaporizhiacontrolled by Russia, was disconnected from the electricity grid for security reasons.
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At the beginning of the month, the Ukrainian army first announced a counteroffensive in the south of the country, before making a lightning advance this week in the north-east, in the Kharkov region. “Since the beginning of September, more than 3,000 km2 have come back under Ukrainian control,” General Valeri Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s army, said in a statement.
“On the outskirts of Kharkiv we have started to advance not only to the south and east, but also to the north,” he added. The governor of the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, assured that thousands of people fled from the region of Kharkiv Russian road. “It has not been the easiest night or morning. In the last 24 hours, thousands of people have crossed the border,” Viacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram.
Shortly before, and coinciding with the 200 days since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian army stated that “the liberation of the towns in the districts of Kupiansk and Izium, in the Kharkov region, continues”.
The places mentioned are important logistics nodes, on which Russia depends to supply its troops on the front lines in eastern Ukraine.
According to analysts, its reconquest by Ukrainian troops is a blow to Moscow’s ambitions in the Kharkov area.
Destroyed areas near kyiv, in Ukraine.
Weapons, an answer to the Russian withdrawal
According to the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian forces penetrated at some points to a depth “of 70 km”, and in five days took “more territory than was conquered by the Russians in all its operations since April.
“We will expel the occupiers from every city and village in Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky congratulated himself in a video message. “Weapons, weapons, weapons, that is what has been on our agenda since the spring. I thank the partners who have responded to our call, because the successes of
Ukraine on the battlefield are shared successes,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who asked the West to send more material.
The Russian army announced on Saturday a “regrouping” of its forces from Kharkov to the Donetsk region, further south, to concentrate their efforts there. A Moscow-backed separatist leader has admitted that Russian forces are fighting “difficult” battles against kyiv’s troops in various parts of the eastern Donetsk region.
Moscow has so far kept quiet about the Ukrainian advances, but on Sunday the Russian Defense Ministry released a map showing a major Russian withdrawal from the Kharkov region.
The map showed that Russia only controlled a small piece of territory in the eastern Kharkov region, behind the Oskol River. On Saturday, the map showed that the Russian army then occupied more territory in that region. The Russian announcement of a withdrawal, along with the Ukrainian version that it entered the town of Kupiansk, are the most significant changes in the battle dynamics after months of fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine, which was dominated by Moscow.
![Ukraine](https://www.eltiempo.com/images/1x1.png)
Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, inactive
In the areas recovered by kyiv, AFP journalists saw charred Russian trucks and armored vehicles on Saturday, some of them with the letter Z, the symbol of the invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24. Ukrainian soldiers patrolled in Balakliya, where their flag flew. Around this city you could also see damaged or destroyed buildings.
Irina Stepanenko, a 52-year-old neighbor who was out cycling for the first time in months, said she was hiding in a basement for three months. “There was a lot of fear, with the bombings,” she says.
Despite Ukraine’s claims of progress, Russian forces continued their shelling along the eastern front, with authorities reporting 10 dead and 19 wounded in the shelling in the Donetsk region.
At the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, in the south, the bombings of recent weeks, for which kyiv and Moscow blame each other, triggered fears of a nuclear disaster in Europe’s largest plant.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putinwarned his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in a phone call on Sunday about the “catastrophic consequences” of the attacks on the Ukrainian plant. According to the French presidency, Macron told Putin that “the Russian occupation is the cause of the risks weighing on the plant” and asked him to remove “light and heavy weapons” from the plant.
This Sunday, the Ukrainian operator of atomic energy, Energoatom, announced that reactor number 6 was disconnected from the power grid at dawn, and “preparations are underway for its cooling.” For three days, this reactor was the only one that was producing the electricity necessary to cool the nuclear fuel and guarantee the safety of the installation.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from AFP
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