Sunday 11 September 2022 12:16 PM 'British' fighters at the front of Ukraine counteroffensive trends now
Soldiers with British accents have been filmed fighting in Ukrainian colours as the country makes stunning advances against Russian forces.
Footage taken on GoPro cameras reportedly shows foreign legionaries fighting during Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast counter-offensive.
The country's advances have 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.
In a compilation of footage uploaded to social media, soldiers with British accents can be heard speaking to one another while wearing blue armbands to identify themselves as Ukrainian forces.
One clip appears to show soldiers moving 'POWs' through a compound, while others show soldiers hurling grenades, running to take cover, and climbing through windows.
Ukraine said today that its forces had recaptured more than 1,158 square miles (3,000 square kilometres) this month from Russian troops in a counter-offensive centred on the country's northeast.
Ukrainian general Valeriy Zaluzhny said in a statement on social media: 'Since the beginning of September, more than 3,000 square kilometres have been returned to Ukrainian control.
'Around Kharkiv, we have begun to advance not only in the south and east, but also to the north. We are 50 kilometres (31 miles) from the border,'
One clip appears to show soldiers moving 'POWs' through a compound, while others show soldiers hurling grenades, running to take cover, and climbing through windows
Footage taken on GoPro cameras reportedly shows foreign legionaries fighting during Ukraine's Kharkiv Oblast counter-offensive
In a compilation of footage uploaded to social media, soldiers with British accents can be heard speaking to one another while wearing blue armbands to identify themselves as Ukrainian forces
Ukrainian general Valeriy Zaluzhny said in a statement on social media: 'Since the beginning of September, more than 3,000 square kilometres have been returned to Ukrainian control'
The speed of Ukraine's 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.
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
