Thomas Grove and Evan Gershkovich
Ukrainian forces pushed deep into Russian-controlled territory Saturday, handing Kyiv some of the most strategically important towns and cities in the northeast of the country and delivering retreating Russian forces one of their biggest setbacks since the start of the war.
In a matter of days, Ukraine retook swaths of its Kharkiv region, where Russians had fought ferociously for months, spending lives and ammunition to take over cities, sometimes a building at a time.
In the weeks leading up to Ukraine's offensive earlier this week, Kyiv’s forces used Western-made weapons, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or Himars, against Russian supply lines and front-line positions.
The growing success of Ukraine’s advance signals to Western backers the effectiveness of weapons the U.S. and Europe have given to Kyiv. It comes at a particularly critical time for Western powers, days after Moscow indefinitely suspended natural-gas flows to Europe, raising the prospect of energy rationing this winter.
Russia’s retreat from key cities is likely aimed at avoiding encirclement after Ukraine captured the town of Kupyansk, which sits on a rail and road hub, and severed the last artery that connected Russia with thousands of its front-line troops.
“It’s a complete collapse,” Phillips O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, said about the Russian pullout of forces between Kupyansk and Izyum. “In the battle of Donbas, they probably had more troops deployed there than anywhere and now they seem to be unable to hold anything.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Saturday that Ukrainian forces had managed to retake 2,000 square kilometers from the Russians, or about 770 square miles—more than twice the land area of New York City—since the start of the month. That is double the territory it held on Thursday.
Ukraine said its forces had entered Kupiansk in the country’s east, dislodging Russian troops from a key logistics hub.PHOTO: JUAN BARRETO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES“These days, the Russian army is showing its best side—its back,” said Mr. Zelensky in a statement on his Telegram channel.
Photos from Russian and Ukrainian channels on Telegram showed Ukrainian soldiers holding the country’s flag in front of the city hall in Kupyansk. Pro-Kremlin Russian military correspondents said Moscow’s forces had pulled back across the Oskil River to the city's eastern part.
Kupyansk had featured in pro-Russian propaganda when residents unfurled an enormous Russian flag over the town’s central square.
The advance also took Ukrainian forces to Izyum, which Moscow intended to use as a bridgehead to launch more attacks on the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, the last two remaining Ukrainian strongholds in the Donetsk region.
In the south of the country, Ukrainian forces were also retaking territory, moving the front line forward between 2 and 10 kilometers at a time, said Natalia Humenyuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ Southern Command.
Video Dispatch: Ukraine Launches Southern Offensive as Residents Flee the EastPlay video: Video Dispatch: Ukraine Launches Southern Offensive as Residents Flee the EastUkraine has launched an assault in the south of the country in an effort to reclaim the Russian-occupied Kherson region. Meanwhile, Russian shelling has forced some of the last residents of Ukraine’s east to flee. WSJ’s Matthew Luxmoore reports from near Ukraine’s front lines. Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday confirmed that it had pulled troops out of Izyum and Balakliya, which the Ukrainians had taken earlier this week. Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the troops were regrouping in the direction of Donetsk, which Russia has held since the conflict broke out in 2014.
The Ukrainian advances of recent days are the culmination of months of methodic preparation, which included artillery and rocket strikes on Russian targets, followed by the well-telegraphed intention to launch a counteroffensive in the south. That caused Moscow to redeploy its soldiers toward Kherson, leaving much of the northeast with little manpower.
Despite the rapid gains, it remains unclear how fast Ukrainian forces, which are also suffering shortages of artillery and ammunition, will be able to consolidate their control over such a large area or advance further.
Mr. Zelensky said Friday that his country’s forces had retaken control of more than 30 towns and villages in the Kharkiv region in recent days and that measures were being taken to secure the gains. It couldn’t immediately be determined what reserves Ukraine has available to shore up the territory it seized and expand on its gains.
“The Ukrainians are going to have their own logistical problems supplying all their different troops spread all over the area now,” said Mr. O’Brien. “But the Russians are going to have their own problems stabilizing the line, so it will be chaotic for a while until a new line starts asserting itself.”
Ukrainian Defense Ministry image shows Ukrainian flags flown in central Balakliya, Kharkiv, Saturday.PHOTO: UKRAINE DEFENSE MINISTRY/HANDOUT/SHUTTERSTOCKIf Kyiv maintains its grasp, the thrust would represent a large setback for Russian plans to take Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas, a goal the Kremlin set after it failed in its initial attempt to take Kyiv, the capital, in March.
The Kremlin hasn’t responded to gains Ukraine has made in recent days. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a whirlwind of appearances on state TV, but didn’t address the retreat. He promoted the Kremlin’s online voting system and visited a new martial-arts center in Moscow, a park in the city center and the opening of a new Ferris wheel to mark the 875th anniversary of the founding of the Russian capital.
“While the whole front is in shock, Uncle Vova will participate in opening the Ferris wheel…And then watch the fireworks,” one Russian military blogger wrote on Telegram on Saturday, using a nickname for Vladimir. “Please tell me, Mr. President, do you by any chance not see all the messed-up things that are going on at the front from that wheel?”
On a widely watched Russian news talk show Friday evening, a national guard commander, Apti Alaudinov, said Kupyansk had no extraordinary military importance. He was quickly contradicted by Russian military expert Mikhail Khodaryonok, who said Ukraine’s recapturing the town would signify an important gain.
“Kupyansk is undoubtedly a tasty target for the Ukrainian Armed Forces insofar as it is an intersection of railroads and highways and is a logistical base that supplies materiel for practically all our troops west of the Siverskyi Donets River, so the stakes are very high,” he said.
The advances made by Ukrainian forces are important for Kyiv’s forces, which have been facing their own hardships with supplies of artillery and ammunition.
Hrakove is one of dozens of Kharkiv-area places that Ukraine says it has recaptured in recent days.PHOTO: JUAN BARRETO/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGESOn Saturday, Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region, praised the armed forces from Balakliya, which the Ukrainians took earlier this week.
“Guys and girls of the Armed Forces, today you are creating a new history of a free Ukraine,” he said.
Vitaly Ganchev, the head of the Russian-installed administration in the Kharkiv region, appealed to those in the areas where fighting was under way to leave their houses to prevent civilian deaths.
But many residents have stayed on to welcome incoming Ukrainian soldiers, sometimes with tears of joy after months of Russian occupation. One video showed Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Balakliya clambering on top of an armored personnel carrier to tear down a Russian-propaganda banner reading, “We are with Russia! One people!”
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