The Russian troops in the Kharkiv region do not appear to be able to cope with the onslaught of the Ukrainians. The Ministry of Defense in Moscow gives its troops in the Izyum area the order to withdraw. The Kremlin associations are thus forestalling their encirclement.
In view of the Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region, Russia has announced that it is withdrawing its troops from the cities of Balakliya and Izyum. The Russian Ministry of Defense spoke of a "regrouping". A ministry spokesman, quoted by the TASS news agency, described the withdrawal as a further step in what Russia has dubbed the "liberation" of Ukraine's Donbass region. However, many military experts assume that the Russians have come under so much pressure in the face of the massive Ukrainian advance in the Kharkiv region that they have decided to flee.
Izyum played a central role in Moscow's planning. In recent months, the small town has repeatedly been the starting point for Russian pincer attacks to the south in order to capture the cities of Kramatorsk and Slowjansk. Despite intensive efforts, Moscow has only gained minimal territory since May - also because the Ukrainian armed forces had built deeply echeloned defense lines in the region.
In the morning, the Ukrainian side had already reported the recapture of Kupyansk. Because of its direct rail connection to Russia, the small town is important as a transport hub for supplying all Russian troops around Izyum in the south-west. With the advance of the Ukrainians, more than 10,000 Russian soldiers would have been threatened with encirclement.
Later, the military governor of the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, reported that their own troops were also advancing there and had already advanced to the outskirts of Lysychansk. Lysychansk was the last major city in the Luhansk region to be conquered by the Russian army in July. The head of the pro-Russian separatists in the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic", Denis Puschilin, spoke of a "difficult situation". The situation in the town of Lyman is "quite difficult, as it is in a number of other places in the north," Puschilin said in a Telegram video.
