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On Sunday, Ukrainian forces continued their quick advance in the Kharkiv region, taking advantage of a remarkable breakdown in Russian defenses and raising the question of how far they can advance. Unverified reports from the previous night said that Kyiv’s forces had captured Velykyi Burluk, a town located about 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Kharkiv and close to the Russia-Ukraine border. The village of Chkalovske was also retaken, and all eyes are now on Izyum because of its advantageous location. Without making any more comments, the Russian Defense Ministry published a map on Sunday that showed the majority of the nation’s forces outside of the Kharkiv region.
Since the beginning of September, Zaluzhnyi’s men, according to him, have restored 3,000 square kilometers (1,158 square miles) of the lost area to Ukrainian control. Estimates of recovered ground have been rising consistently lately.
The recent advances have been hailed as some of the most significant of the 200-day invasion, marking Ukraine’s biggest triumph since they drove Russian soldiers from the capital Kyiv in March.
Ahead of a challenging winter for European partners supporting Kyiv’s war effort with weapons and money, Ukrainian forces have amply shown their capacity to launch a significant counteroffensive and alter the trajectory of the battle.
However, the advances also force Ukrainian commanders and authorities to make some difficult choices over whether to stop their advance.
Watling regarded the Ukrainian commander in the Kharkiv theatre as cautious and unlikely to lose control, which suggests that the counteroffensive will likely take some time to consolidate and that any attempt to drive Russian soldiers out of the area entirely won’t be made until 2023.
The Ukrainians themselves were probably startled by how quickly they were routed; they had hoped to cut off vital supply lines to Russian forces in Izyum, a major staging area for the Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas. The Russian forces, however, dispersed.
If they haven’t already, Ukraine will probably conquer Izyum in the next day or two, according to the US-based think tank Institute for the Study of War. According to Mykyta Karakay, a member of the national guard and a former Izyum council deputy, Ukrainian forces have really seized Izyum. The assertion was not immediately verifiable.
In a routine televised briefing on Sunday, the ministry made no mention of the retreat, but it did display a map that showed Moscow’s forces had abandoned much of the land they had recently held in the Kharkiv region.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, met with his senior military commanders, intelligence agents, cabinet members, and advisers on Saturday in Kyiv.
The Kremlin doesn’t appear to be in any danger. On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin adhered to his scheduled activities, which included officiating at the grand openings of a new boxing gym and a huge Ferris wheel in a Moscow park. For the city’s founding anniversary on Saturday night, authorities in Moscow put on a big fireworks display.
On its 200th day, Putin’s campaign intended to engulf Ukraine within days or weeks has drawn criticism from Russian military bloggers and other staunchly pro-Kremlin figures.
