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  • 2022-09-13 (xsd:date)
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  • the ISW assessment wrote on September 11. The losses around Kharkiv infuriated pro-war hardliners in Russia.Igor Girkin (Strelkov), a former state security officer who once commanded pro-Russian forces in Donbas, acknowledged a stinging setback. For our part (en)
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  • On September 10, the Russian Defense Ministry said forces were voluntarily leaving districts around the city of Kharkiv to focus on solidifying capture of Ukraine’s Donbas region."In order to achieve the stated goals of the Special Military Operation to liberate the Donbas (region in Eastern Ukraine), it has been decided to regroup the Russian troops stationed in the districts of Balakliia and Izium," said Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov.That is false.In fact, a rapid Ukrainian offensive pushed Russian troops out of dozens of villages and cities in the northeast Kharkiv region. The Russian army abandoned tanks, trucks and ammunition, and hundreds of soldiers were killed, wounded or captured, according to a raft of news reports.Moreover, the additional loss of the city of Izium sharply reduced Russia's ability to achieve its stated goal in the Donbas, military analysts said.The Russian army occupied Izium, a key logistics hub in the east of the Kharkiv region, in early April, after a month’s siege. The railroad connecting Kharkiv with Donbas passes through the city, military analysts told the BBC, making Izium a crucial supply juncture.On September 6, Ukrainian troops launched a counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region, catching Russian forces by surprise. In the first 48 hours, Ukrainian troops advanced at least 12 miles into Russian-occupied territory and recaptured about 150 square miles. By September 8, Ukraine reported that more than 20 towns and villages in the Kharkiv region had been liberated. Two days later, the Ukrainian army had pushed up to 40 miles into Russian-occupied territory and liberated more than 1,000 square miles, Ukraine defense officials said.In five days, Ukraine regained more territory than Russian troops had seized in the previous four months. That is the biggest setback for Russia since March, when its forces around the capital Kyiv were pushed back to Russia and Belarus.According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in Washington, D.C., the rapid counteroffensive is a major operational defeat" for Russia."Russian forces are not conducting a controlled withdrawal and are hurriedly fleeing southeastern Kharkiv Oblast [province] to escape encirclement around Izium (en)
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