Sunday 11 September 2022 02:04 AM Russia on the run: Putin's troops forced to RETREAT following rapid ... trends now
Ukraine has made stunning advances in a rapid counter-offensive that has caught the Kremlin by surprise, with intelligence experts hailing a 'major turning point' in the six-month war.
It has led to the recapture of several key towns in the east as Vladimir Putin's forces fled in disarray from a collapsing frontline.
The speed of advance, with photographs shared by Kyiv officials of their troops raising the Ukrainian flag in liberated towns after advancing more than 30 miles, has sparked open talk in Moscow that their invasion will end in humiliating defeat.
Towns entered by Ukrainian troops include Kupiansk, a key rail centre whose loss would severely hinder Russian supply lines. There are also reports of Putin's troops and collaborators fleeing Izyum, another crucial logistics hub for the invasion.
The Ukrainian advance has been so swift that fleeing Russian troops have left behind a logistics bonanza of ammunition, equipment and most of all seemingly fully-functioning heavy weapons, of the sort that Kyiv has been crying out for from its Western partners for months.
The offensive south of Kharkiv, which began last Tuesday, took the thinly defended Russian lines by surprise, leading to Western intelligence agencies speaking of mass retreats, mass surrenders and mass casualties that the Russian Ministry of Defence has dressed up as a 're-grouping.'
Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Saturday that troops fleeing from the Balakliya and Izyum areas would be regrouped to Ukraine's occupied Donetsk region.
Ukrainian soldiers hold a flag at a rooftop in Kupiansk as their lightning offensive causes Russian lines to collapse
Ukrainian solders pose for a photo beneath the sign of Izium, a key logistics hub and prize capture
Ukrainian service members pose for in the recently liberated settlement of Vasylenkove in the Kharkiv region
Destroyed armored vehicles litter the road in Balakliya, Kharkiv region after Ukrainian forces smashed through Russian lines
Ukrainian servicemen raises his fist aloft in victory as his unit drives near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region
The blue patch represents almost a thousand square miles of territory liberated by Ukraine, and shows the counteroffensive taking aim at Limán and Lysychansk
Natalia Popova, adviser to the head of Kharkiv regional council, shared images on social media of Ukrainian troops holding their flag in front of Kupiansk city hall with a crumpled Russian flag at their feet.
The town was seized by Russia within days of their invasion in February. 'Kupiansk is Ukraine. Glory to the armed forces of Ukraine,' wrote Popova.
Russian military journalists yesterday reported that their troops fled Izyum on the only remaining road in another sign of the apparent rout, which has seen Putin's forces lose control of an estimated 3,000 square kilometres in days.
The dramatic advances follow President Volodymyr Zelensky's declaration last Friday night that 30 settlements had been liberated in Kharkiv region over the past few days as his forces sliced through a weak spot in Russian lines.
The capture of Kupiansk, if confirmed, is a huge setback for Putin that potentially leaves up to 10,000 Kremlin troops cut off from supplies. Abandoned boxes of ammunition in the town underlined the speed of their retreat.
The latest reports indicate that the town of Limán fell to Ukrainian liberators with little resistance.
It is located just 25 miles from the twin cities of Lysychnask and Severodonetsk that fell to Russian forces at the start of July after a long and grinding battle.
There are even unconfirmed reports of Ukrainian forces entering Donetsk international airport, the subject of two separate battles between Ukrainian and pro-Moscow forces in 2014 and 2015.
The airport has been in rebel-held hands for over eight years, and its return to Ukrainian control would signal Kyiv's first recovery of territory lost that pre-dates Putin's Feb 24 invasion.
This morning, Kyiv soldiers were pictured with their own nation's flag as they claim to have retaken Kupyansk - something Russia disputes
A commanding officer of an anti-air unit of Ukraine's Armed Forces loads a rocket launcher in his SUV as they prepare to support infantry in liberating Balakliya in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Sept 8
A Russian tank destroyed by Ukrainian forces as they moved to recapture Balakliya earlier in the week
Denis Pushilin, the head of the separatist Donestk People's Republic, reported on the fighting amid rumours that he had fled Donetsk.
The situation in Limán 'remains quite difficult,' he said in a video post from a moving car. 'Just like a number of other locations in the north of the republic.'
And Serhiy Haidai, the Russia-installed governor of the Luhansk region, said that Ukrainian units had even reached the
