Wednesday 14 September 2022 02:23 AM Humiliation for Putin's troops continues as they now begin to abandon major ... trends now

Humiliation for Putin's troops is continuing as they begin to abandon the major city of Melitopol in the face of Kyiv's lightning counter-offensive.

The city's pre-occupation mayor said that Russian troops were pulling out of the area in Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. 

Mayor Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram that Russian troops were heading towards Moscow-annexed Crimea.  

He said columns of military equipment were reported at a checkpoint in Chonhar, a village marking the boundary between the Crimean peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland.

It comes as Russian troops have also pulled out of areas in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, including Vovchansk- a town just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from Russia seized on the first day of the war.

In the newly freed village of Chkalovske in the Kharkiv region, Svitlana Honchar said the Russians' departure was sudden and swift.

'They left like the wind,' Honchar said Tuesday after loading cans of food aid into her car. 'They were fleeing by any means they could.'

She explained that some Russians were 'trying to catch up' after being left behind in the hasty retreat. 

It was also reported that there had been chaos because of Russian troops pulling out- and claims that they were surrendering en masse.

Ukrainian officials have released footage of their forces burning Russian flags and inspecting abandoned, charred tanks as the country's pushback continues. 

 In one video, border guards tore down a poster that read, 'We are one people with Russia.'

And Kyiv is trying to persuade even more Russian soldiers to give up by launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance, according to the Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar.   

The flyers read: 'Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn't mean anything for them. You don't need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine.'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian forces were carrying out 'stabilization measures' across recaptured territory in the south and east, and rounding up Russian troops, 'saboteurs' and alleged collaborators.

In his nightly address, Zelenskyy also pledged to restore normalcy in the liberated areas.

'It is very important that together with our troops, with our flag, ordinary, normal life enters the de-occupied territory,' he said, citing an example of how people in one village had already begun receiving pension payments after months of occupation.

In the wake of the retreat, Ukrainian authorities moved into several areas to investigate alleged atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians.

Since Saturday, the Kharkiv regional police have repeatedly reported that local law enforcement officers have found civilian bodies bearing signs of torture across territories formerly held by Russia. It was not possible to verify their statements.

On Tuesday, regional police alleged that Russian troops set up 'a torture chamber' at the local police station in Balakliya, a town of 25,000, that was occupied from March until last week.

In a Facebook post, the head of the police force's investigative department, Serhii Bolvinov, cited testimony from Balakliya residents and claimed that Russian troops 'always kept at least 40 people captive' on the premises.

Military analysts have sought to understand the gravity of the blow sustained by Moscow in the war. 

British intelligence said that one premier force, the 1st Guards Tank Army, had been 'severely degraded' during the invasion, along with the conventional Russian forces designed to counter NATO.

'It will likely take years for Russia to rebuild this capability,' the British officials said.

The setback might renew Russia's interest in peace talks, said Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and former speechwriter for Putin.

But even if Putin were to sit down at the negotiating table, Zelenskyy has made it clear that Russia must return all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea, Gallyamov said.

'This is unacceptable to Moscow, so talks are, strictly speaking, impossible,' he said.

Putin's previous actions 'have restricted his room to maneuver,' so he 'wouldn't be able to put anything meaningful on the table.'

For talks to be possible, Putin 'would need to leave and be replaced by someone who's relatively untarnished by the current situation,' such as his deputy chief of staff, the Moscow mayor or the Russian prime minister, Gallyamov said.

Despite the retreat, Russia shelled the city of Lozova in the Kharkiv region, killing three people and injuring nine, said regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

Strikes have also continued from Russian troops around Europe's largest nuclear facility, where fighting has raised fears of a nuclear disaster. 

The Nikopol area, which is across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, was shelled six times during the night, but no injuries were immediately reported, said regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko.

Strikes have also continued unabated on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest and one that has been hammered by artillery for months.

Among Kharkiv's battle-scarred apartment buildings, one man who returned to feed the birds struck a defiant tone, saying that the success of the Ukrainian counteroffensive would likely prompt harsh Russian retaliation against civilian targets. But he said the Kremlin would not succeed in intimidating ordinary Ukrainians.

Putin 'will strike so we don't have water, electricity, to create more chaos and intimidate us,' said Serhii who only gave his first name. 'But he will not succeed because we will survive, and Putin will soon croak!'

The counteroffensive has provoked rare public criticism of Putin's war in Russia. Some of the war's defenders played down the idea that the success belonged to Ukraine, blaming instead Western weapons and fighters for the losses.

It comes as Kyiv's military intelligence said large numbers of Moscow's soldiers had laid down their weapons rather than fight troops advancing east out of Kharkiv because 'they understand the hopelessness of their situation'.

Oleksiy Arestovich, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said the military has captured so many Russian soldiers over the last several days that it is running out of space to house them - with military intelligence spokesman Andrey Yusov adding that 'significant' numbers of Russian officers are among them.

Meanwhile, Russian troops fighting a second counter-attack in the southern Kherson region were said to be negotiating their own surrender having apparently run out of ammunition - though details from the frontline are sparse amid an information blackout imposed by Kyiv.