War in Ukraine: the Ukrainian army retakes Balaklia in its counter-offensive in the East
Ukrainian soldiers on an armored vehicle, September 7, 2022 (Illustrative image).
© AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
The Ukrainian army, taking advantage of the redeployment of Russian troops to the south to face its counter-offensive, carried out a surprise attack in the North-East, recapturing important territories in the Kharkiv region, including the town of Balaklia, in plus some successes achieved near Kherson.
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“
Military units penetrated enemy defenses to a depth of 50 km.
During the active operations carried out in the direction of Kharkiv, more than 20 localities were liberated
,” Oleksiy Gromov, a senior official of the Ukrainian general staff, told a press conference on Thursday.
Some 700 km² in total have thus been taken back from the Russians, he assured.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) estimated Thursday morning the Ukrainian reconquest at 400 km² of land.
Ukrainian forces in the south-east of the Kharkiv region "
probably take advantage of the reallocation of Russian forces towards the southern axis to carry out an opportunistic, but very effective counter-offensive in the north-west of Izium
", indicated this think tank. Washington-based independent.
Russian troops in this area were "
probably understaffed
" due to previous deployments to the Donetsk region and in the south, the ISW continued.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky even affirmed this Thursday evening that his forces had taken over the town of Balaklia, in the Kharkiv region, from the Russian army: “
Things are as they should be.
The Ukrainian flag flies over a liberated Ukrainian city, under the sky of Ukraine
,” Zelensky posted on the internet, with a video showing Ukrainian soldiers marching in this city of 27,000 inhabitants, conquered by the Russian army in early March. .
Progress also in the Donbass and in the South
"
The Ukrainian move to attract Russian forces to Kherson is clearly one of the great strategic moves of the war
," said Phillips O'Brien, professor of strategic studies at Scotland's St. Andrews University, on Twitter.
Ukraine, communicating for weeks about its counter-offensive in the south, “
brought some of the best Russian units to Kherson, where they cannot be supplied and where they are being methodically wiped out.
And led the Russians to reduce their presence in Kharkiv
,” he added.
Ukrainian soldiers also gained two to three kilometers around the towns still under Ukrainian control of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, retaking the locality of Ozerne from the Russians, according to Oleksiï Gromov.
In the South, the Ukrainian army "
advanced deep into the enemy defenses, between two and several tens of kilometers
" depending on the sector, "
in certain directions
", further advanced Mr. Gromov, without further details.
Ukraine "
probably destroyed a military pontoon in Darivka, which Russian forces had deployed after the nearby road bridge was badly damaged
," the UK Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.
Darivka is one of the main Dnieper River crossing points for Russians near Kherson, London said.
Moscow did not react on Thursday to these Ukrainian advances reported by Kiev and by Western analysts, ensuring, however, that it continued to inflict "
heavy losses
" on the Ukrainians.
►Also read: International Guest - Counter-offensive in the South and East: "The Ukrainian army plays its all out"
(With AFP)
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