Ukraine announced on Saturday breakthroughs by its troops over "several tens of kilometers" on the southern front, as well as the reconquest of the key city of Kupyansk in the east, another victory in the lightning counter-offensive of kyiv which made it possible to take over entire swathes of territory.
"Our soldiers are advancing on the front lines in the south in several areas ranging from two to several tens of kilometers," spokeswoman for the military command of southern Ukraine, Natalia Goumenyuk, told local media.
In Kharkiv oblast
in the east of the country, Ukraine claims to have regained control of the city of
Kupyansk.
The city is on supply routes for the Russian army.
This new victory for kyiv could significantly affect Russia's ability to supply and provide effective logistical support to its positions on the eastern front.
"Kupyansk is Ukraine," a regional official wrote on social media, posting a photo of Ukrainian soldiers in the city of 27,000.
The Ukrainian special forces have also released images showing their officers “in Kupyansk, which has been and will always be Ukrainian”.
In the village of
Grakové
near Kharkiv, taken over by Ukrainian forces, AFP journalists saw destruction testifying to the violence of the fighting, electricity pylons downed and cables spread on the ground.
Stray cats and dogs wandered in search of food in the empty dwellings.
"It was scary, there were shelling and explosions everywhere," 61-year-old Anatoly Vasilyev told AFP of the battle in which Ukrainian forces recaptured the village of Grakove from the Russians.
Kharkiv region governor Oleg Sinegoubov said Russian shelling, carried out "in retaliation" for the successful counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, injured 14 civilians.
The day before, Volodymyr Zelensky had announced that kyiv forces had recaptured 30 localities from Russian troops in this border region of Russia, in northeastern Ukraine.
Ukraine: Volodymyr Zelensky claims to have "taken back control of more than 30 colonies" in the Kharkiv region
➡ For General Jérôme Pellistrandi, it's a "turning point" pic.twitter.com/gPuppp6h2d
– BFMTV (@BFMTV) September 10, 2022
In the Donetsk region,
Daniil Bezsonov, head of the pro-Russian administration, confirms that Moscow troops have withdrawn from
Izium.
This had been in Russian hands since late March.
Lyman
also fell, according to multiple sources.
On the Russian side, it is estimated that in Lyman, "the situation remains quite difficult, as in a number of other localities in the north of the People's Republic" of Donetsk (DNR), declared Denis Pushilin, leader of the DNR, in a video on Telegram.
I can't believe my eyes.
Izium retaken, Lyman retaken (Svyatohirsk likely too)
The Russian front sector in the northeast is collapsing by hours.
pic.twitter.com/YTuIwezy3i
— Illia Ponomarenko 🇺🇦 (@IAPonomarenko) September 10, 2022
Pavlo Kirilenko, governor of the Donetsk region in the Donbass, reported two deaths in the Russian strikes.
Regroup Russian troops near Donetsk.
The Russian army announced on Saturday that it had "withdrawn" its forces present in the areas of Balakliïa and Izium, in eastern Ukraine where kyiv reports progress in its counter-offensive, in order to "regroup" them near Donetsk, one of the capitals of pro-Russian separatists.
