Ukrainian forces have reclaimed hundreds of square miles of territory from Russia, according to several media reports.
Ukrainian officials posted photos on Saturday showing troops raising the nation’s flag over the city of Kupiansk, the main railway city that has supplied Russian forces in the northeast of Ukraine, Reuters said. A journalist for the wire service reported seeing “Ukrainian police patrolling towns and boxes of ammunition lying in heaps at positions abandoned by fleeing Russian soldiers.”
The Ukrainian military, which has been largely quiet about its counteroffensive, said in its regular update on Saturday that forces have reclaimed more than 386 square miles from pro-Kremlin forces.
The military’s update said that “in some areas, units of the Defense Forces have penetrated the enemy’s defenses to a depth of 50 kilometers.”
The British Defense Ministry said in an online briefing it believes Ukrainian forces have advanced as much as 30 miles in the advance south of Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city.
The mayor of Izium, a key Russian military stronghold, told the New York Times the city was “liberated today.”
The British military said earlier on Saturday that Russian forces had become “increasingly isolated” in the city.
“Russian forces were likely taken by surprise. The sector was only lightly held and Ukrainian units have captured or surrounded several towns,” the British military said.
The Russian Ministry of Defense said Saturday it pulled its forces from Izium, one day after saying it planned to reinforce its defensive positions in the region, the report said.
The agency framed the retreat as a preplanned move to bolster its forces in the east, the New York Times reported.
The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War estimated in a report Saturday that Ukraine has seized roughly 965 square miles in its recent breakthrough as it seemed “disorganized Russian forces [were] caught in the rapid Ukrainian advance.”
The think-tank noted images circulating on social media that purport to show Russian prisoners seized in the advance around Izyum and surrounding areas.