Izium, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the newly liberated city of Izium on Wednesday.where he greeted soldiers and thanked them for their efforts to retake the area, while a Ukrainian flag was raised in front of the burned-out city hall.
The russian forces they left the battered city in the face of a swift counteroffensive in which Ukraine has recaptured vast swathes of territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region in a matter of days.
Much of Izium has been devastated. There were apartment buildings blackened by fire and pockmarked by artillery fire. The entire center of a residential building had collapsed, a large hole and piles of rubble where houses used to be.
“The image is very shocking, but it is not shocking to me,” Zelenskyy said in brief remarks to reporters.
“Because we begin to see the same images of Bucha, of the first unoccupied territories (…) so that the same buildings destroyed, people killed.”
Bucha is a neighborhood near kyiv where the bodies of civilians, many bearing signs of torture, were found dumped in the streets, in mass graves and in courtyards after a hasty withdrawal by Russian forces in March.
On the outskirts of Izium, the remains of Russian vehicles and tanks were visible alongside the road.
“Our soldiers are here. That is a very important thing. A support for the people,” Zelenskyy said. “I see how people receive them, what a sensitive moment. It means that with our army, life comes back.”
The recent Ukrainian counter-offensive has allowed its forces to retake territory around Kharkiv and deal a heavy blow to Russian military prestige.
Behind those advances, a new front has begun to emerge, a Washington-based think tank said on Wednesday.
The Institute for the Study of War said the Oskil River seemed to have become the new front in the area, after considerable progress in recent days.
The Oskil River flows south and is largely the eastern boundary of the Kharkiv region of Ukraine.
“Ukrainian forces maintain localized ground attacks or threaten Russian positions behind the Oskil River,” the institute said.
“Russian forces are unlikely to have sufficient strength to prevent further Russian attacks along the entire Oskil River because they do not appear to be receiving reinforcements, and it is likely that Ukrainian forces will be able to take advantage of this weakness to resume the counteroffensive across the Oskil if so.” they decide,” added the group.
The operation has also left more weapons in Ukrainian hands.
Russian forces are likely to have left behind dozens of tanks, armored personnel carriers and other heavy equipment as they fled in the east of the country, a Ukrainian think tank said on Wednesday.
The Center for Defense Strategies said a single Russian unit near Izium had left behind 39 T-80 tanks and 35 infantry fighting vehicles, known by their acronym BMPs. Another unit left behind 47 tanks and 27 armored vehicles.
The center said Russian forces had tried to destroy some of the vehicles with artillery. The armed forces usually destroy material that they abandon so that their rival cannot use it.
Elsewhere, Russia continued its attacks over the last day and continued to push the death toll from the war, which has now surpassed seven months.
At least seven civilians were killed and 22 wounded in Russian strikes on seven Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s presidential office said on Wednesday morning.
By ELENA BECATOROS and HANNA ARHIROVA Associated Press
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