“Chilly, starvation, darkness and thirst aren’t as scary and lethal for us as your ‘friendship and brotherhood’.”
These have been the phrases of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Russia six days after September 6, when Ukraine started its shocking counteroffensive in Kharkiv.
Because the pushback started, Ukraine has recaptured strategically essential hubs on the jap and southern axes.
On September 12, Zelenskyy introduced that Ukraine had regained about 6,000 sq. kilometres (2,320 sq. miles) of territory – a sliver of the nation’s landmass of greater than 600,000sq km (232,000sq miles), of which lower than a fifth is at present below Russian occupation.
This has pushed the entrance traces additional to the east and, in flip, reversed months of Russian territorial positive factors inside a matter of weeks.
For the primary time for the reason that invasion started, pro-Kremlin public figures, media and navy bloggers are criticising Putin’s struggle technique.
And Ukrainian officers say they continue to be dedicated to the counteroffensive, even after a pointy escalation this month with heavy Russian air raids on cities throughout Ukraine in obvious retaliation for a blast on a bridge of strategic worth to Moscow’s troops.
Putin has blamed Ukraine for destroying a part of the Kerch Strait Bridge linking Russia to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, however Kyiv has in a roundabout way claimed accountability for the explosion.
In the meantime, Ukraine has been pushing for extra superior weaponry from its Western allies to assist its forces hold combating.
Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov was requested by reporters what he anticipated from NATO as he arrived for a gathering on October 12 in Brussels.
“Air defence methods,” he mentioned, and walked away.
Japanese Axis
Kharkiv
Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kharkiv started on September 6, with Kyiv’s forces recapturing greater than 3,000sq km (1,160sq miles) of territory in lower than per week, in keeping with Deputy Minister of Defence, Hanna Malyar.
Massive enclaves of Kharkiv had been occupied by Russia from the onset of the invasion on February 24 with strategically essential cities like Izyum falling in late March.
However finally, Kyiv benefitted from a weaker presence of Russian fighters within the east as a result of Moscow had redeployed forces to Donetsk and the southern axis in response to a Ukrainian offensive in Kherson. Within the weeks following, Kyiv regained extra territory south of Kharkiv.
Izyum
Ukrainian forces recaptured Izyum in jap Ukraine on September 12 – its most vital navy success for the reason that Battle of Kyiv in March, in keeping with the Institute for the Examine of Struggle (ISW).
This dealt a extreme blow to Russia, weakening Moscow’s means to hold out artillery assaults for the reason that city was a big hub for focusing on the Donetsk area.
After the Russian retreat, mass graves and torture chambers have been discovered by Ukrainian forces. The Ukrainian Basic Employees shared photos on September 16 of a mass burial web site that was mentioned to carry greater than 400 our bodies, together with stays of girls and kids.
It was a reminder of the alleged Russian brutality in Bucha found in March, the place authorities mentioned they discovered greater than 450 our bodies in mass graves.
“Russia leaves dying in every single place and should be held accountable for it,” Zelenskyy mentioned after the grim discoveries.
Lyman
Ukrainian forces recaptured Lyman, in Donetsk, in Ukraine’s jap Donbas area on October 2 after 4 months of occupation. Moscow was utilizing Lyman as a vital railway junction to resupply troops.
In accordance with the ISW, Russian fighters – even in probably the most extremely educated models like these posted to Lyman – endure from struggle fatigue and Kremlin sources and navy bloggers are attributing the defeat to military failures to sufficiently provide and reinforce troops within the Donbas area.
Just like Kharkiv, Ukrainian authorities claimed to have discovered a mass grave in Lyman on October 7, with Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko saying it was unclear what number of our bodies have been buried.
Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram on October 7 that “there may very well be each troopers and civilians” within the mass graves.
Southern Axis
Kherson
In accordance with Ukrainian southern navy command spokesperson, Natalia Humeniuk, Ukraine has recaptured greater than 1,170sq km (450sq miles) of territory within the southern area of Kherson since late August, when it launched its southern counteroffensive. As compared with its swift advances round Kharkiv, assaults on the southern axis have been extra laboured.
A flat, agricultural area, Kherson produces 10 % of Ukraine’s millet, 8 % of its soybeans and 6 % of its barley and is a key financial and strategic area for Ukraine. It additionally turned a strategically vital area for Russia given its proximity to Crimea and Russian territorial losses there are more likely to threaten its provide traces.
Different territorial positive factors embody areas in Luhansk, the place on September 19, in keeping with Governor Serhiy Haidai, Ukrainian forces regained management of Kreminna city and Bilohorivka village near the town of Lysychansk, which fell to Russian forces in July.